LITTLE ROCK — A state parole and probation officer, accused of taking bribes from a Marianna drug kingpin convicted of murder, resigned Wednesday, two days after her arrest by federal agents.
Roxanne Davis, 38, of Wynne submitted a handwritten letter of resignation to the Arkansas Department of Community Correction, where she had worked since 2003.
“To whom it may concern I resign my position with DCC as of today,” Davis wrote in the signed letter dated Wednesday.
The letter came after FBI agents arrested Davis on Monday, and a federal judge ordered her to avoid contact with any parolees or probationers she supervised, which Community Correction Department officials said would have made it difficult for her to perform her regular duties.
At the time of her arrest, Davis was handling about 70 cases involving parolees and probationers, said Community Correction Department spokesman Rhonda Sharp.
In response to the arrest, Davis was placed on “administrative assignment,” which would have allowed her to work and receive pay for performing duties that wouldn’t have put her in contact with probationers and parolees, Sharp said. The assignment, as well as her resignation, prompted an internal review of Davis’ work.
“Anytime an officer leaves DCC, his or her cases are reassigned. If the officer leaves DCC under less-than-auspicious circumstances, those cases are reviewed by DCC staff. That review may prompt an investigation,” Sharp said.
Sharp said she couldn’t offer further details about any internal investigation into Davis because it was a personnel matter.
Davis’ letter didn’t give a reason for her resignation.
Calls Wednesday evening to a phone number listed in her name rang several times without being answered or allowing a voice message to be left. Another number consistently rang a busy signal, and a third number listed in her name was disconnected.
Davis is the sixth law enforcement officer charged in a federal drug-trafficking and public-corruption investigation known as Operation Delta Blues.
About 70 people were indicted last October in the first round of the FBI-led investigation. Five Helena-West Helena police officers were among those charged. Four have since pleaded guilty. Lt. Marlene Kalb, a fifth defendant, is to be tried Dec. 10.
On Monday, Davis pleaded innocent at the federal courthouse in Little Rock to a charge accusing her of misusing her authority as a parole/probation officer to collect cash payments from known drug traffickers under her supervision.
Prosecutors said Davis, whose annual state salary was $36,728.43, accepted cash, gifts and shoes from Torrence “Hot Shot” Turner, as well as regular monthly bribes — usually $20 to $30 — from Anthony “Lil A” Hall.
Turner, 38, and Hall, 24, both implicated Davis in federal plea agreements filed the same day as Davis’ arrest.
Davis began supervising Turner in 2007, when he was paroled after serving about 111/2 years in prison for firstdegree murder.
In 1995, Turner pleaded guilty in Crittenden County to killing Lee Andrew Lemmons during an armed robbery and was sentenced to 45 years in prison with seven years suspended.
In his plea agreement, Turner admitted that between 2007 and 2011 he paid Davis “racks and racks,” meaning thousands and thousands of dollars in cash, in exchange for her not interfering in his drug-trafficking.
“These payments ranged from approximately $50 to $800, sometimes represented by [Davis] to be for expenses such as the officer’s mortgage, car note, birthday, plane tickets and salon trips,” according to Turner’s plea agreement.
Turner, who also admitted in his plea agreement to dealing more than 100 pounds of powder and crack cocaine, said he also provided Davis with shoes for her and her family in exchange for her allowing him to continue his illegal activity.
Davis and Turner were recorded discussing the purported arrangement several times via an FBI wiretap on Turner’s phone, including one conversation in which Davis asked Turner to buy her a car for $1,500, court documents said.
Federal court papers don’t say whether Turner purchased the vehicle. He was recorded as encouraging Davis to do more comparison shopping, the documents said.
In Hall’s case, he admitted paying Davis so she wouldn’t interfere with his drug dealing. Davis supervised Hall as part of his probation in two drug convictions — one in Texas and one in Lee County.
According to his plea agreement, Hall visited Davis about once a month either alone or with a group of other probationers who live in the Marianna area.
When the group visited Davis, “they would pool their money together and give the state probation officer between $100-$150 per visit,” according to his plea agreement. “If Hall went alone, he would give the state probation officer $20-30 per visit.”
In addition to accepting money from Hall and Turner, federal court documents accuse Davis of providing Turner with information from the Arkansas Crime Information Center’s database.
On five separate occasions, FBI agents used the database to check Turner’s criminal history and use the information to support wiretaps and Turner’s arrest as part of the Delta Blues investigation, according to the criminal complaint against Davis.
On those occasions, the Crime Information Center notified Davis of the FBI’s interest because she was Turner’s parole officer. The routine notification lets parole or probation officers know when an another law enforcement agency has run a check on a person they are supervising, so that the officers can follow up.
According to Turner’s plea agreement, Davis instead used the notifications to warn Turner of the FBI’s interest.
“Specifically, the state parole/probation officer told Turner that the FBI had tapped into the officer’s computer and Turner should watch his back,” according to Turner’s plea agreement.
According to Arkansas Code Ann. 12-12-212, it’s a Class D felony to disclose criminal history information maintained by the Crime Information Center to someone unauthorized to use the database for the purpose of “furthering the commission of a misdemeanor offense or felony offense by the person or another person.”
Brad Cazort of the Crime Information Center said disclosing the database’s criminal history information is a crime under state law.
But it’s a “gray area” whether telling someone that they’ve been searched in the database is illegal, he said.
On Wednesday, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said his agency wouldn’t be pursuing charges against Davis, though state police agents had assisted the FBI in investigating her.
“At this time, the state police does not have an open investigation associated with that individual,” Sadler said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/20/2012