Investigate 2 officers, prosecutor asks

Policemen in Mayflower, Vilonia accused of unrelated misconduct

CONWAY -- A prosecuting attorney's office asked the Arkansas State Police on Thursday to investigate unrelated allegations against two police officers in Faulkner County.

Sgt. Jeremy Hanson of the Mayflower Police Department and officer Steve Carpenter of the Vilonia Police Department have been suspended with pay pending the investigations, their departments said.

In a letter about Hanson, Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland of the 20th Judicial Circuit asked the state police to look into "circumstances surrounding the alleged theft of property and falsification of public records to determine whether the actions resulted in the violation of any provisions of the Arkansas Criminal Code."

The letter did not give specifics. Hiland referred questions to the Mayflower department, which had no further comment.

In a separate letter, Hiland asked the state police to investigate two complaints filed July 16 with the sheriff's office against Carpenter.

One of the complaints accused Carpenter of retaliating against a 17-year-old boy with text messages for more than a month and with a planned traffic stop, because the boy's father said his son had insulted Carpenter's daughter. The father also accused Carpenter of threatening to use a stun gun on him if he didn't allow a search of the boy's vehicle and handcuffing a friend of his son's for talking with the boy's parents on a street near Carpenter's home.

The other complaint says that during a separate traffic stop of that friend and another young woman, Carpenter fondled one of them.

Carpenter declined comment Thursday.

Hanson was not reached by telephone for comment, because he has no phone listing in Mayflower or Conway directory assistance.

State Desk on 07/25/2014

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