A former nurse at the Baxter County Detention Center has been arrested on felony sexual assault charges involving female inmates.
According to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, 39-year-old Samuel J. Sparks of Mountain Home, a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), was hired as a full-time nurse in January 2022 where he was responsible for providing nursing care to jail inmates, dispensing medications as prescribed, coordinating inmate sick call requests to see the Nurse Practitioner, and following up with aftercare as instructed by the Nurse Practitioner and other medical providers.
On Aug. 4, 2023, a complaint was made to Sheriff’s Office Investigators by an inmate alleging Sparks had engaged in inappropriate contact with her in the Detention Center. Immediately after the report, three inmates were interviewed and where additional accusations of inappropriate conduct were made against Sparks.
In an interview on Aug. 7, Sparks admitted to investigators he conducted what he categorized as “breast examinations” of female inmates at their request. However, he asserted these examinations, which took place in the nurse’s office without anyone else present, were undertaken as part of his duties as a jail nurse. Sparks denied any other acts took place.
Detention Center records indicated Sparks, in his capacity as a nurse, did not make any notations in the medical charts nor did he prepare any documentation related to examinations he performed. In addition, there were no records of any kind on file indicating examinations had been requested by inmates or had been conducted by Sparks. One inmate, however, did verbally tell investigators during the interview process she had in fact requested a breast examination from Sparks in his capacity as a nurse.
Sparks was terminated later the same day.
Following a comprehensive investigation, Sparks was charged with three felony counts of sexual assault. He was booked and released from the Baxter County Detention Center Thursday on $5,000 bond.
Sparks is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 25. Although charges have been filed, the investigation is still ongoing.
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