Photo: Roger Hicks Jr.
The rape case of 35-year-old Roger Hicks Jr. has traveled a somewhat long and winding road from its beginnings last year.
The latest chapter in the case was written in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday when Hicks appeared and entered a not guilty plea to charges of having sex with a minor.
The case was originally filed in May last year and dismissed at the victim’s request five months later, but has now been refiled. When a case is dismissed at the victim’s request and then refiled, it generally means the victim has had a change of heart about testifying. It is difficult to win a case of this nature without the victim’s participation.
In late January last year, Hicks reported to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office a minor had been raped by three unknown men at an unknown trailer park in Midway.
The investigation fairly quickly turned the spotlight not on the three mysterious men, but on Hicks as the person who had allegedly had sex with the minor. The story about a rape by three men began to fall apart.
Along the way, while Hicks’ original complaint concerning the rape of the minor was being investigated, the victim was examined and found to have methamphetamine in her system.
During an interview with Becky Vacco, an agent with the Crimes Against Children Division of the Arkansas State Police, the victim admitted she had tried methamphetamine.
She said she and and another child had found a small plastic bag with some “white stuff” in it on the kitchen counter, and she had stuck her finger in the substance and then into her mouth.
The victim told investigators she had also found needles around the property on two occasions, and she had once had to take a syringe away from a younger child.
The fact methamphetamine was found in the girl’s system led to the filing of an endangering the welfare of a minor charge against Hicks on May 30, 2019. He pled guilty to that charge in mid-October last year and was sentenced to 12 months in the Baxter County jail.
As the investigation into the original report continued, Hicks’ initial story continued to crumble. Three items of clothing the victim wore the night of the alleged attack at the unnamed Midway trailer park were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for analysis.
In April last year, the lab reported finding three DNA samples on the victim’s underwear and pants. The samples were consistent with having a common source.
A court order was obtained, and a DNA sample obtained from Hicks. The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) section at the crime lab reported the sample taken from the victim’s clothing matches the one provided by Hicks.
The order dismissing the original rape case was signed by Circuit Judge John Putman in October last year.
Hicks remains an inmate in the county jail.
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