A long parade of people facing drug-related charges passed before Circuit Judge Gordon Webb last week and were given prison or probation sentences.The number of cases dealt with made the session of Baxter County Circuit Court a lengthy one, with adjournment not coming until after dark.
Methamphetamine was the drug most often mentioned as being involved in the arrests of those coming before the court, but not the only one. Besides methamphetamine, illegal substances seized during the various arrests bringing the people to court included morphine, Oxycodone, hydrocodone, other prescription drugs, and a Mason jar of what was believed to be moonshine.Items of paraphernalia used to ingest drugs were also found by law enforcement officers, including digital scales, syringes, smoking pipes and “snorting straws.”
Many of the charges were filed against defendants as the result of traffic stops in which illegal substances were found.
Two people were ordered into the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program (DCP) to work on their addiction problems. Graduation from the DCP usually takes about two years, but some enrollees have taken up to seven years to complete the program.
Those sentenced during last week’s session of circuit court included:
Photo: Louis Hicks
Louis F. Hicks, 33, of Cotter, was given six years in prison, with four to serve and two suspended, after pleading guilty to possessing methamphetamine. The drug was found during a traffic stop.
Photo: Cory Elling
Cory Elling, 31, of Lakeview, pled guilty to charges against him, and was given four years in prison, with two to serve and two suspended. His most recent arrest came in June when the manager of the Quality Inn reported Elling, who was said to be staying in the motel, had attempted to sell a prescription drug to a motel employee. Officers also found methamphetamine in his room.
Photo: Brian Baker
Brian K. Baker, 49, of Mountain Home, was sentenced to six years in prison, with three suspended and three to serve, after changing his plea to guilty. Baker was arrested in mid-August when he had the misfortune not to be the one who found a small bag of methamphetamine he dropped on the counter of a Midway convenience store – a clerk and the cops beat him to the punch.
Photo: Heather Spangler
Heather Spangler, 32, of Flippin, was put on probation for 10 years and ordered into the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program. She will spend 90 days in one of the Community Corrections Centers in the state for treatment of her addiction. Spangler pled to drug-related cases in both Baxter and Marion County, including attempting to sneak drugs into the Marion County jail in late August.
Photo: Clayton Hatchet
Clayton Hatchet, 28, of Cotter, pled guilty to a number of drug charges, including selling drugs to a person working with law enforcement, and was sentenced to eight years in prison, with six suspended and two to serve, with a judicial transfer that will result in him being put into a long-term drug addiction treatment program in one of the Community Correction Centers in the state.
Photo: Rita Donetta Leach
Rita Donetta Leach, 47, of Gassville, was sentenced to two years in prison, after pleading guilty to drug-related charges stemming from a traffic stop by a Mountain Home Police officer who found drugs in her vehicle.
Photo: Lindsey Partee
Lindsey Partee, 35, of rural Mountain Home, who kept up such a steady stream of words, it made it difficult for Judge Webb to sentence her, was given three years in prison resulting from a late July traffic stop, during which an Arkansas State Police Trooper found drugs in her vehicle. During the stop Partee was also alleged to have become combative, striking the trooper on the side of the head and attempting to kick him. A stun gun was used to bring her under control. Partee said she was not guilty of the charges against her, but would take the three years in prison, since it would be “worse for me if this goes to a jury,” because no one would take her word as a criminal against that of a law officer.
Photo: Larry Keith Richardson
Larry Keith Richardson, 50, of rural Baxter County, was sentenced to five years probation, after pleading guilty to amended charges of possessing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Richardson was swept up in the search for his son, who was on felony probation. Officers came to the residence along County Road 126 where father and son lived and found both at home. Methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia were found when officers searched the home.
Photo: Gordon Cox
Gordon Cox, 50, of Bull Shoals, was put on probation for six years, after pleading guilty to amended drug-related charges. Cox was unlucky enough to have wrecked his vehicle near Midway in late March and then to have officers responding to a report of the unattended, wrecked vehicle finding a substance field testing positive for methamphetamine, a number of new syringes and a Mason jar containing a substance believed to be “moonshine.” Cox was found hiding in nearby woods. At the time of the arrest, Cox was on parole, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Photo: Keturah Sanders-Dicks
Keturah Sanders-Dicks, 35, of Mountain Home, was put on probation for 10 years and ordered into the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program. Sanders pled no contest to charges against her. Officers arrested her in late October last year at an address along South Street when two pardon and parole officers came to the residence to see if it was accepted for a woman about to be paroled to make her home. A man and wife living at the residence said they were the only ones at home, until Sanders-Dicks and her then-boyfriend, Joshua Dicks, were found in a bedroom. At the time, Sanders-Dicks was a parolee under active supervision. Sanders-Dicks was not required to spend the normal 90 days in a drug treatment program at one of the Community Correction Centers in the state prior to entering the Drug Court Program because she has been enrolled in an addiction treatment program operated by Care Center Ministries.
Photo: Kristy Wood
Kristy Wood, 40, of rural Mountain Home, pled guilty to drug-related charges, was put on probation for 12 years and ordered into the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program. Wood faced charges in three different drug cases. She was last arrested in September when a van was stopped by a Baxter County deputy sheriff on State Highway 5 North and methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia were found. The three people in the vehicle, including Wood, had one thing in common – they had all run afoul of the law in one way or another. One was a parolee, Wood was on probation, and one had a suspended license.
Photo: Crystal Sanford
Crystal Sanford, 36, whose last known address was in Flippin, will spend 12 months at one of the Community Correction Centers in the state, after admitting she had violated the terms and conditions of her probation handed down in earlier drug cases. Sanford also has an active criminal case in Izard County, which has yet to be adjudicated.
Photo: Brandy Hyde
Brandy Hyde, 37, of Mountain Home, pled guilty and was sentenced to prison for six years with a judicial transfer to one of the Community Correction Centers in the state for treatment of her addiction problem. She was arrested in mid-August last year after a person working with law enforcement made arrangements with Hyde for the purchase of methamphetamine.
Photo: Hannah Love
Hannah Love, 28, of Gamaliel, pled guilty and was given five years probation on drug-related charges. She was booked into the county jail last month, after being arrested by an officer with the Mountain Home Police Department.
Photo: Amy Floro
Amy Floro, 34, of Mountain Home, pled no contest to the drug-related charges facing her. She was in a van stopped by a Mountain Home Police officer in July. Drug paraphernalia was found. Floro was put on probation for a year.
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