Suspect identified in officer-involved shooting at Buffalo River
The suspect in Sunday’s officer-involved shooting at the Buffalo National River has been identified. According to Buffalo River Public Information Officer Caven Clark, 44-year-old Jonathan Bolger of Branson died as a result of his injuries.
Clark says law enforcement rangers at Buffalo River National Park were on foot patrol in the early morning hours of Sunday in Spring Creek Campground north of Harriet when they encountered an adult male subject with a handgun. The subject, later identified as Bolger, allegedly refused multiple commands to drop his weapon and was fired upon.
The National Park Service’s Investigative Service Branch and Office of Professional Responsibility are leading the investigation and are being assisted by the Searcy County Sheriff’s Department and the Arkansas State Police. Clark says no further information is being released as the incident remains under investigation.
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Gregory has extensive criminal history
Mountain Home resident Rory Gregory entered a not guilty plea to a number of charges in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday stemming from a chase through a wide swath of the city on August 18th during which several people — including law officers — narrowly missed being hit by Gregory’s vehicle. The 56-year-old Gregory already has an extensive criminal history stretching back to the 1970s.
His latest trip to prison came after he was given a 15-year sentence in Baxter County Circuit Court in early October 2014. He faced various charges stemming from an incident in August 2014 in which he was accused of attempting to run down Mountain Home Police Officer Larry Caruso when the officer attempted to stop a blue Dodge pickup truck pulling a large trailer, with a crate loaded on it, coming out of a business parking lot on Highway 62/412 East.
Even with his prior record, he was only required to spend about 30 months in prison before being released by the Arkansas Parole Board. The decisions on when to release prisoners on parole are made by the Parole Board and not at the local level. In fact, the releases are often made even over the objections of local officials.
Gregory entered prison in October 2014 and was released on active parole in April.
His past is littered with charges and jail sentences. According to court records, he has a significant number of previous felony convictions and has been involved in alleged crimes in a number of Arkansas counties, as well as out of state locations including Bowie County, Texas.
Gregory’s record with the Arkansas Department of Correction shows him serving prison time on convictions from Baxter, Boone and Independence counties. The records also indicate he had been given probation for crimes in Baxter, Little River and Washington counties in Arkansas.
Gregory has completed prison time on crimes including theft of property forgery, fleeing and second-degree battery. He was on the “most wanted” list maintained by the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office in June of 2014 and was arrested the same month at a hotel in Mesquite, Texas based on a tip from a private citizen. At that time, he was wanted in Baxter and several other counties.
During the incident involving the Mountain Home Police officer in 2014, Caruso noted when the truck left the business it was well past closing time and the crate had the appearance of being hastily loaded onto the trailer.
Caruso activated his emergency lights and siren and attempted to pull alongside the truck to try and read the license plate, but the driver of the truck — later identified as Gregory — began swerving toward the patrol car, eventually throwing the crate from the trailer. The truck rammed the patrol car on the passenger side, spun around and both vehicles came to a stop.
When Caruso approached the truck, Gregory started the engine and attempted to put the the vehicle in gear. Caruso broke out the driver’s side window and attempted to reach in and take the truck out of gear. Gregory grabbed Caruso’s hand, dragging the officer down the highway. Caruso then drew his service revolver. Gregory grabbed the weapon and continued holding it. Caruso discharged one round into the dash of the truck causing Gregory to release the weapon. The truck was eventually stopped and Gregory was pulled out, but continued to resist and had to be forcefully restrained. The crate on the trailer contained an Artic Cat utility vehicle valued at more than $6,000.
When he entered his plea to the Baxter County charges, he did the same for a Boone County case in which he had allegedly been involved in the theft of a horse trailer.
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Governor intends to grant clemency to former Boone County man
Governor Asa Hutchinson has announced his intentions to grant clemency to former Boone County resident Jason McGehee based upon the Parole Boards recommendation earlier this year. The clemency would commute McGehees sentence from death to life without the possibility of parole.
McGehee is one of eight men the state had planned to execute earlier this year. He had been scheduled to be put to death on April 27, but a federal judge put the execution on hold after the state Parole Board recommended that Governor Hutchinson grant him clemency.
Governor Hutchinson says his intent to grant clemency to McGehee is based partly on the recommendation of the Parole Board to commute his sentence from death to life without parole.
The Governor says in making his decision he considered many factors including the entire trial transcript, meetings with members of the victims family and the recommendation of the Parole Board. In addition, the disparity in sentence given to McGehee compared to the sentences of his co-defendants was a factor in his decision.
McGehee, now 41 years old, was convicted in Boone County Circuit Court in 1998 of capital murder in the killing of John Melbourne Jr. and sentenced to death. He has spent the last 19 years on Arkansas’s death row.
Co-defendants said McGehee did most of the beating when the 15-year-old Melbourne was killed in 1996 for telling police who was behind a northern Arkansas theft ring.
Several people had beaten and tortured the teenager at a house in Harrison. Then they bound him and drove him to an abandoned farmhouse outside Omaha. He was later strangled while his hands were tied with an electrical cord.
A press release from the Governor’s Office says it should be noted that the presiding judge has recommended clemency. The Boone County Prosecutor and Sheriff have raised objections.
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Johnston gets prison time after pleading guilty to drug-related charges
Instead of a jury trial, Kaitlyn Johnston opted to change her plea to guilty on drug-related charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with 10 years to serve and 10 suspended during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Tuesday.
In addition, almost $8,000 and several vehicles were forfeited to the state as part of her plea agreement.
On Monday, in the same court, Judge Gordon Webb denied a motion to suppress evidence in the case against the 23-year-old Johnston, ruling that it had been legally obtained and could be used against her.
The arrest of Johnston and her then boyfriend Nicholas Tomei came in late October last year when the couple drove to the Cranfield Park area where a drug deal took place in which a confidential informant played the part of the buyer.
According to court records, Tomei left the vehicle in which he and Johnston had driven to the park and went to a vehicle occupied by the confidential informant. After the alleged drug sale was made, Tomei returned to his car and the couple departed.
According to court records, the informant, who was wearing a wire, purchased $1,000 worth of a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
Johnston and Tomei were stopped on U.S. Highway 62/412 by an Arkansas State Trooper who was part of the team monitoring the bust.
Prior to the stop, Tomei admitted he had been throwing methamphetamine out of the passenger side window of his black Cadillac once he realized he was being tailed by the trooper, but the powdery substance kept blowing back into the car as Johnston drove down the highway.
Officers recovered traces of a white powdery substance from various parts of the car. Tomei also had the powder on his body from his neck to his waist where the drug had blown back on him. The Cadillac is one of the vehicles forfeited.
Tomei was given 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to the charges against him stemming from the October incident and other cases.
Johnston is currently an inmate in the McPherson Unit of the state prison system. She was sentenced to five years in prison early this year for violating the terms and conditions of her probation in two previous drug-related cases.
The motion to suppress evidence, filed by Johnston’s attorney, Norman Wilber, and argued on Monday contended that because the confidential informant was a parolee, the law officers involved in the Tomei-Johnston drug bust should have obtained an authorization from proper authorities to allow him to participate as required by regulations set out in the Arkansas Community Correction manual. He said since such authorization was not sought or given, the evidence obtained during the drug bust should be suppressed.
Judge Webb said fairly early during Monday’s hearing that he saw a major difference between the law and administrative procedures laid out by a state agency. He said he did not see how violating an agency’s procedures would impact Johnston’s constitutional protections to the point that evidence should be suppressed.
The judge pointed out that the regulations were in place primarily to protect probationers and parolees and to provide guidelines to be followed if they were used in situations where they were asked to work with the police as confidential informants.
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