Photos: (from upper left, clockwise) George Michael Gage Jr., Charyl Beth Gage, David H. Richardson, Lisa Caststeel and Matthew Ryan Dove
Five people, including three already in jail, are in trouble for conspiring to sneak two packages of cigarettes into the Baxter County Detention Center.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a plan was developed during a number of recorded telephone calls between 45-year-old George Michael Gage Jr. of Mountain Home and his estranged wife, 44-year-old Charyl Beth Gage of Gassville, to get the cigarettes to him in the jail.
The effort eventually involved two other inmates, 32-year-old Matthew Ryan Dove of rural Mountain Home and 48-year-old David H. Richardson, and a second free world individual, 27-year-old Lisa Caststeel of Mountain Home.
Michael Gage and Dove appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday and both entered not guilty pleas to the charges against them stemming from the alleged smuggling operation.
Richardson, who lists a Hamburg address, was an Act 309 inmate. The act was passed in 1983 allowing state inmates to be housed in local jails as a way of alleviating the chronic overcrowding of the state prison system.
Some of the 309 inmates work around the jail, allowing regular jail staff to attend to other duties.
In the smuggling plan, it was Caststeel who was given the job of dropping an empty soft drink cup holding the cigarette packages in an outside trash can.
Michael Gage says at one point that Caststeel should be sure and put a new lid on the cup before the drop was made.
After the cup and its contents were deposited in the trash can, Caststeel was to contact Richardson and give him $20. Richardson was allegedly then to bring the cigarettes to Gage in C-Pod.
On one recorded call, Michael Gage is heard talking to his wife, as she pulls into the jail parking lot. Caststeel was also reported to be in the car.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the two women and Michael Gage “could be heard over the phone rehearsing the operation.”
In addition, surveillance cameras at the detention center recorded the incident as it unfolded.
According to court records, the two women in the car – Charyl Gage and Caststeel – have both been in relationships with Michael Gage at one time or another.
Caststeel filed for an order of protection on Dec. 9 last year to keep Gage away from her.
She alleged Gage had made numerous threats to her and her new boyfriend, after she ended the relationship with him.
Slightly more than 40 days later, she was arrested as part of the alleged plot to get cigarettes to him.
In the affidavit seeking the protective order, Caststeel writes, “I feel it is necessary to protect my life legally. I was not aware of the monster he truly is until it was too late.”
A hearing on her petition for the order of protection is now set for early next month.
Many of the calls between Michael Gage and his estranged wife where the smuggling plan was discussed were made using Dove’s personal identification number, according to the probable cause affidavit.
In one call, Dove is alleged to have been the first to speak to Charyl Gage before handing the phone to her husband.
The probable cause affidavit reports Michael Gage made at least six calls to his wife on Jan. 10-11. Most of the calls were reported to have been lengthy.
The perceived success of the operation sparked a celebration of sorts within the jail.
According to the probable cause affidavit, when Charyl Gage explained to her husband in detail how the plan had gone, “inmates could be heard in the background celebrating and thanking her for making the plan work.”
But, the celebration was a bit premature.
Both Charyl Gage and Caststeel were booked into the jail Jan. 20 on charges of furnishing prohibited items and impairing the operation of a vital public facility.
The two women were released shortly after being brought into the jail. They both posted a $5,000 bond.
The case files for Charyl Gage and Caststeel have yet to be set up.
Michael Gage is charged with furnishing prohibited articles, impairing the operation of a vital public facility and 12 counts of violating an order of protection.
Dove faces charges of conspiracy, furnishing prohibited articles and impairing the operation of a vital public facility in the cigarette smuggling case.
He is also facing charges in other criminal cases, including possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia, theft by receiving and criminal mischief.
Dove’s recent arrests have resulted in a petition being filed to revoke his probation in a 2017 drug case. He received a sentence of 72 months probation, after pleading guilty to those charges.
During an interview, Richardson is reported to have admitted taking the $20 from Caststeel but refused to confess to any other participation in the plan.
Records show he was quickly returned to the state prison system and is currently an inmate in the East Arkansas Max Unit at Marianna.
In addition to the charges filed against him in Baxter County, Richardson faces a number of disciplinary violations imposed by prison authorities stemming from the alleged smuggling operation.
The violations, all assessed on Jan. 14, are listed as monetary misconduct, unauthorized communications, two counts of possession or manufacture of contraband and trafficking and trading.
Richardson was serving a 10-year prison sentence from Ashley County on drug charges.
In a maze of filings related to domestic issues between Michael and Charyl Gage, protective orders have been sought and approved, divorces have been sought by both parties and violations of protective orders alleged.
A criminal case was filed against Michael Gage late last year accusing him of terroristic threatening.
Gage was also alleged to have made threats to Caststeel and her new boyfriend. Court records indicate she left Gage for the other man.
In an interview in mid-December last year, Caststeel and the new boyfriend said they were concerned Gage had paid someone to hurt them.
Gage is scheduled to go to trial on the terroristic threatening charge in August. He has told investigators he did not mean to harm Caststeel and the new boyfriend and had only wanted to scare them.
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