A Mountain Home woman arrested in the company of two felons early last year appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Twenty-nine-year-old Ashley Renee Henson faced a number of drug-related charges, including trying to sneak contraband into the Baxter County jail.
She entered a guilty plea to the charges against her and was sentenced to three years probation.
According to court record, the current legal problems for Henson began with a traffic stop on March 8, 2020. Henson, 32-year-old Stephan Whaples and 25-year-old Jacob Sifford were all in the pickup truck when an Arkansas State Police Trooper pulled it over on Highway 62/412 near Buzzard Roost Road for a minor equipment violation. The truck was being driven by Whaples.
At the time, Whaples was a parolee with a search waiver on file. Sifford, was also a convicted felon.
Henson’s effort to sneak contraband into the jail hidden in her bra following the traffic stop resulted in her being charged with furnishing prohibited articles, a felony.
Henson told investigators she had been with Whaples when he allegedly stole ATVs to raise money to pay his fines, fees and court costs incurred in other criminal cases, but said she played no part in carrying out the thefts.
Whaples now faces charges in five open Baxter County criminal cases. Whaples is accused of possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia, theft of property, breaking or entering, being a felon in possession of a firearm and fleeing.
Many of the charges have multiple counts.
Whaples, who has had criminal charges filed against him since 2011, is an inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center with bond set at $50,000.
Sifford has two current cases in which he is charged with possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia and selling drugs to a person working with law enforcement.
He is also being held in the Baxter County jail. After being a fugitive for about five months, Sifford was surrendered to the jail by a bail bond company on Mar. 9.
Sifford has had criminal charges filed against him since 2014.
Between them, Whaples and Sifford have had more than a dozen criminal cases opened against them through the years.
Henson was sentenced under the provisions of Act 346. If she stays out of trouble during her probation, she can apply to the courts to have her record sealed.
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