CONWAY — The superintendent of the Guy-Perkins School District was arrested Thursday on felony charges, at least one of them involving stolen guns.
David Foy Westenhover, 49, was charged in Faulkner County Circuit Court with theft by receiving, a felony; aiding consummation of offense, a felony; and hindering apprehension or prosecution, a misdemeanor.
An employee answering the phone at the Guy-Perkins school said no one there had any comment. Messages left on several School Board members’ home phones were not immediately returned.
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said firearms were the stolen property that Westenhover had in his possession.
“At some point, Mr. Westenhover had ... at least one of those stolen weapons in his possession on the school grounds,” Capt. Matt Rice of the Faulkner County sheriff’s office said.
Westenhover lives in a home on the school’s campus, Rice said.
An affidavit accompanying the charges says that on Sept. 29, authorities determined that Westenhover had property “that he knew to be stolen.” The property was worth less than $5,000 but more than $1,000, it adds.
On Nov. 19, the affidavit says, “Mr. Westenhover [knowingly] aided his son Joshua to avoid prosecution of stolen items by taking him to another county to safeguard him.”
The affidavit adds, “Westenhover [knowingly] paid the victim monies to not report a crime so that he or his son would not be prosecuted for any crimes.”
Authorities have not charged Joshua Westenhover.
Within hours of David Westenhover’s arrest, the Arkansas Department of Correction confirmed that he had served time in prison in 1988 on a drug conviction.
It was not immediately clear if Westenhover’s record had been expunged or how he became certified as a superintendent. Public-school educators periodically undergo criminal background checks.
Phyllis Stewart, chief of staff for the Arkansas Department of Education, said the agency did a quick check of files in its licensure office Thursday.
“We found nothing there that would indicate he [Westenhover] was not eligible for a license,” Stewart said. “We’re going to do a better, in-depth search [today].” Stewart said that sometimes a person will persuade the state Board of Education to grant a certificate despite a conviction “if it’s something that happened a long time ago ... and that person has been employed.” But she said the agency has found no records indicating that happened in this case.
In an e-mailed statement, Hiland said, “Anytime an individual is prosecuted, it’s important to remember that its not a reflection on the institution they were serving but on the individual.
“I know many of the men and women that diligently serve our community in that school district, and I’m confident they will continue to go about the business of educating their students and moving past this unfortunate distraction,” Hiland added.
Correction Department spokesman Shea Wilson said Westenhover was imprisoned from July 5, 1988, until Sept. 16, 1988, on one count of manufacturing, delivery and possession of a controlled substance.
Wilson said Westenhover had been sentenced to one year and six months in prison for the crime in Marion County and probably had served some of the time in a county jail. He completed his parole in 1989, she said.
The department has no record indicating Westenhover’s conviction was later expunged, Wilson said.
At the Marion County circuit clerk’s office, an employee who did not give her name said she could not find a record for Westenhover in the criminal files. She said crimes that have been expunged are redacted, but so many people whose surnames begin with W had been redacted that she could not tell if his was among them.
Each of the felony charges is punishable by up to six years in prison.
Westenhover was in the process of being freed on bail early Thursday evening. Guidelines suggest bail for the felony charges in this case be set at $2,500 each, Hiland said.
Information on the name of Westenhover’s attorney, if any, was not available late Thursday.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/11/2013