John Allen (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
One of two people arrested after drugs and drug paraphernalia were located during a compliance visit to a home along Cranfield Road in early February last year appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Forty-six-year-old John Dewayne Allen, who lists an address in Paragould, entered a guilty plea to his charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The other person arrested, 29-year-old Molly Jean Dillard, recently fired her attorney and court records do not show that she has hired a replacement. Dillard was previously represented by Joseph Hughes who practices with a Jonesboro firm.
A failure to appear warrant was issued when Dillard did not show up for a court session April 21. She was also a no show for a scheduled appearance on Monday.
Dillard listed an address in Paragould when arrested but told officers she had been living in Allen’s “lake house” on Cranfield Road for some time. In documents filed by her former attorney, it is noted that Dillard knew Allen because of a past romantic relationship between the two.
Dillard was also on probation at the time of her Baxter County arrest.
The focus of the compliance visit was Allen who was on parole at the time.
Both Allen and Dillard entered not guilty pleas to the charges against them during earlier court sessions.
During the early February 2024 compliance visit, officers reported finding more than a dozen types of controlled substances in the residence, including:
-Eight glass jars of marijuana
-Almost seventy grams of methamphetamine
-A plastic bag containing a small amount of Fentynal
-Almost 12 grams of ecstasy
-Psilocybin mushrooms
-Eighty grams of hashish
-Nineteen suboxone strips
-Hydrocodone pills
-Oxycodone pills
-Alprazolam pills
-Clonazepam pills
-Amphetamine/dextroamphetamine pills
According to the probable cause affidavit, there were several pills that were not identifiable because the numbers had been worn off and some appeared to be “homemade.”
Allen was reported to have had $1,100 in cash in his wallet. He has a fairly lengthy criminal history with numerous felony convictions – including charges of selling controlled substances.
Allen is alleged to have told officers searching the Cranfield Road residence that the drugs they found belonged to his 22-year-old son who had recently died.
He said he had brought the drugs from Paragould to his vacation home in Baxter County to dispose of them but had not “gotten around to it yet.”
Allen told an officer he would “never sell drugs.”
In Greene County, Allen has been charged with possessing cocaine, heroin, Fentynal and “marijuana edibles.”
Dillard has also had charges filed against her in Greene County.
A revocation petition has been filed in one of Allens cases in Greene County. The petition alleges that he violated the terms and conditions of his probation when he was arrested and charged in Baxter County.
A revocation petition in one of Dillard’s previously closed criminal cases has been filed citing violations of the terms and conditions of her probation, including the new criminal case opened on her in Baxter County and the fact she had not obtained employment as directed.
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