Photo: Jason Michael Biddle
When Jason Michael Biddle of Mountain Home was sentenced to 10 years in prison in late January last year in Baxter County Circuit Court, it appeared he had finally run out of second chances.
But, Biddle seems to have been given a number of other “second chances” since his 10-year prison sentence was imposed.
And, he apparently will need even more of those second chances now. Biddle was stopped Saturday morning about 1:30 on a traffic violation by the Mountain Home Police Department (MHPD).
But, when drugs were found, the charges grew more serious. According to the probable cause affidavit, Biddle had almost 24 grams of methamphetamine in his possession, in addition to a number of clonazepam tablets.
The Mountain Home police officer reported Biddle as saying he will be going back to prison.
He was booked into the Baxter County jail with bond set at $10,000.
At one point during his many trips through the court system, Biddle was ordered to enter the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program. It would have been standard practice to send him to one of the Community Correction Centers in the state to take part in an intensive 90-day addiction treatment program.
Biddle, however, was not required to take that step. Instead, he was allowed to enter a local treatment program operated by Care Center Ministries. He not only did not take advantage of that opportunity, but defied the court’s order to return to jail, if he did not complete the program.
He remained a fugitive until he was arrested in the early morning hours of Oct. 10, 2018 on a remote road in Marion County where he had taken a female to have sex.
The woman was also on probation at the time.
Based on the Marion County incident, a petition to revoke Biddle’s probation in his latest Baxter County case was filed. After a hearing on the petition in late January last year, the 10-year prison sentence was imposed.
Biddle was also given 10 years in prison on the Marion County charges, with the sentence running concurrently with the time he was given in Baxter County.
He formally entered prison in late March last year to serve the sentence. It is not unusual for a person to have to wait for some time in a county jail until bed space opens in the chronically overcrowded state prison system.
According to Department of Correction records, Biddle only spent about 150 days in a unit of the state prison system.
Despite his history of walking away from the Care Center rehabilitation program and failing to complete the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program, Biddle was allowed to enter Covenant Recovery in Malvern on Aug. 27 last year.
The facility, which is licensed by the Arkansas Department of Correction, is described as a long-term reentry program. Those in the program are considered inmates while enrolled.
In a letter sent in late September last year, an official with Covenant Recovery reported to the Baxter County Circuit Court that Biddle was doing well.
He was expected to complete the program Feb. 23.
If he completed the program at that time, only 174 days passed between his release and new arrest on drug charges in Mountain Home in the early morning hours of Aug. 15.
According to the letter from Covenant, Biddle was reported to have been drug tested at least twice a week on random dates during his stay at the facility and had never had positive results.
Officials at Covenant said Biddle had indicated he intended to remain in the Malvern area where he had a job.
Biddle apparently did not stay in Malvern. He is shown as being supervised out of the Mountain Home office of the Arkansas Department of Community Correction.
The legal system has used almost every tool it has available in handling the 33-year-old Biddle’s many criminal cases, most of which were drug-related.
In his frequent trips though the court systems in Baxter and Marion counties, he had been put on probation, sent to prison, spent time in county jails and lost vehicles and money in forfeiture actions filed against him stemming from his drug activity.
Biddle has faced criminal charges in Baxter or Marion counties in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
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