LITTLE ROCK — Two former officers with the Little Rock Police Department accused of attempting to aide a transportation of a large amount of marijuana made their first appearances in court on Friday afternoon.
Mark Anthony Jones and Randall Tremayn Robinson went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Kearney in Federal Court, appearing separately during their hearings.
During the 15-minute session, the court rescheduled the hearing for both men for June 4 at 1 p.m. At that time, both men will appear together and decisions will be handed down on whether to set bond. Both men are being held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals service until that time.
A crowded courtroom filled with Jones' and Robinson's family and friends watched as the two men made their first appearances since being being accused and arrested Thursday of attempting to aid and abet the possession with intent to distribute more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana through the city while driving marked patrol cars and while in uniform.
The charge is one of three for both men, which also includes conspiracy to aide and abet the trafficking of more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Jones and Robinson, who are half brothers, were accused of accepting $14,000 in payments for protecting controlled drug deliveries while driving marked patrol cars while armed and in uniform, according to a release issued through the U.S. attorney's office.
The probe into Jones and Robinson began Jan. 4, when Jones began communicating with a confidential informant and agreed to escort a shipment of marijuana. Jones then escorted several shipments both in the city and across the country. Robinson aided in a shipment taken within the city on March 22.
Read more about this story in tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.