A man who once did prison time for burning his mother’s house down appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Thirty-year-old Scott Glenn Willett, who formerly lived in Gassville but now lists an address in Alma, is facing new drug-related charges after being arrested June 8 by a trooper with the Arkansas State Police.
Willett entered a not guilty plea.
Willett wanted his $8,000 bond lowered, but Circuit Judge John Putman said no. The judge said, “the bond is more than fair as bonds go.”
According to the probable cause affidavit recording the events leading to Willett’s latest arrest, the trooper had a vehicle pulled over on Baxter County Road 913 when a Chevrolet sedan passed his patrol unit.
A few minutes later, the trooper said the same vehicle backed down the road around a curve to where he was conducting the initial traffic stop.
The trooper reported the driver, later identified as Willett, said he was “checking” to see if the officer was okay.
When the trooper questioned Willett as to what he was really up to, Willett was reported to have attempted to drive away.
He was ordered to stop and complied. The trooper asked for Willett’s driver’s license but Willett indicated he had done nothing wrong and did not have to provide it.
The trooper explained that backing down a road in a curve was a definite traffic violation.
Willett, who was reported to have become nervous and agitated during the encounter, did provide the trooper with an Arkansas driver’s license and asked the trooper if he was “going go run it.”
The trooper did check the license and found that Willett was on parole with a waiver on file permitting warrantless searches of his person and property.
A search of Willett’s vehicle turned up a small plastic bag containing a white crystalline substance, syringes and a glass smoking device.
At that point, Willett was placed in handcuffs. According to the probable cause affidavit, Willett became non-cooperative when an attempt was made to put him in the trooper’s patrol car.
Another trooper had arrived on the scene and both law officers were able to get Willett into the car. He was reported to have begun “screaming and acting irate but quickly calmed down.”
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