MH man returns to court on drug charges

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Photo: Nicolas Thomas Koskinen

A Mountain Home man who has had drug-related charges filed against him in seven criminal cases beginning in 2009 returned to Baxter County Circuit Court last week to face the latest allegations against him.

Thirty-four-year-old Nicholas Thomas Koskinen pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 54 months in prison.

According to court records, Koskinen was arrested in mid-May when an officer with the Mountain Home Police Department (MHPD) stopped the vehicle he was driving.

The officer reported he pulled Koskinen over when it was discovered the license plate on the 2002 Explorer he was driving came back as belonging on a different vehicle.

The officer reported Koskinen said he did not have his driver’s license with him, and there was no insurance on the vehicle. In addition, Koskinen was shown to have an active criminal warrant issued in Texarkana.

During the stop, the MHPD officer said Koskinen’s hands were shaking. He was asked to step out of his vehicle and a “K9 sniff” of the vehicle was made. The dog alerted on the back half of Koskinen’s SUV.

A search of the vehicle was conducted, and a white crystal-like substance was located on the step below the driver’s door. A set of scales with a white crystal-like residue was found in the center console.

Through the years, Koskinen has faced charges of possession of methamphetamine, paraphernalia used for ingesting the drug, selling methamphetamine to a person working with law enforcement and possessing marijuana.

His first drug-related case in Baxter County was opened in 2009 when he was 24-years-old. He was 34-years-old when the latest charges were filed.

According to court records, Koskinen was charged with possessing methamphetamine in Texarkana Dec. 6 last year. He was sentenced to four years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, with two suspended in Miller County Circuit Court early last month.

Koskinen has been shown to be an inmate in the Miller County jail awaiting transportation to the Department of Correction.

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