Inmate charged in smuggling try

He is fifth person arrested in plot to get items into jail

Another Pulaski County jail prisoner has been arrested in connection with the April 23 attempted smuggling of contraband into the lockup, according to an arrest report.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Robert Timothy Thompson, 45, of 24007 W. Arkansas 107, Lot 2, in Jacksonville was arrested at the Pulaski County sheriff's office at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, the report said. Thompson was charged with eight counts of use of a communication device in the commission of a felony, and one count each of criminal attempt to possess marijuana, criminal attempt to possess methamphetamine and criminal attempt to possess drug paraphernalia.

Thompson was being held in the jail Thursday night with a hold placed on him from the U.S. Marshals Service. He has been in the jail since March 24.

According to a sheriff's office report, investigators intercepted a jail telephone call April 23 from prisoner Wesley Wooley III to his father, Wesley Wooley, indicating a contraband drop was scheduled for that afternoon.

After establishing surveillance, investigators observed the elder Wooley drop a package into the bed of a truck in the jail parking lot, the report said. Lisa Gray arrived in a second vehicle and was viewed dropping a second package into the truck bed.

Investigators observed jail Deputy Kyle Guyer exit the jail and walk toward the truck, which belonged to another deputy, and retrieve one of the packages, the report said. He walked back toward the jail but dropped the package into a garbage can when approached by investigators.

Investigators retrieved the second package from the truck, according to the report.

Gray, Guyer and Wooley were arrested April 23 and charged in connection with the smuggling attempt; Wooley III was arrested and charged April 24.

The sheriff's office reported Wooley III admitted to coordinating the deliveries, and Gray admitted she was paid $100 to make the delivery.

The sheriff's office reported that the first package contained chewing tobacco, cigarettes, candy and $20. The second package was a smokeless-tobacco can with a thin layer of tobacco covering marijuana and methamphetamine.

According to an affidavit, Wooley III later identified "R.T." as the person who ordered the drugs. "R.T." was identified as Thompson.

Investigators searched jail telephone calls "made to Gray and discovered numerous telephone calls coordinating the drop and packaging of the drugs," according to an affidavit.

During one of the calls, at 4:54 p.m. April 23, "Thompson directed Lisa Gray to the drop vehicle in the parking lot of [the jail]," the affidavit states. "Thompson directed Lisa Gray to 'throw it' into the drop."

Investigators watched the drop occur and arrested Gray while still on the telephone with Thompson, according to the affidavit.

In another phone conversation earlier that afternoon, Thompson described the drop vehicle to Gray and instructs Gray "on how to package the narcotics so the weight was the same as a normal can of smokeless tobacco," according to another affidavit.

Gray, Guyer and Wooley have been released on bonds.

Wooley III was being held in the jail Thursday night with no bond set on aggravated-robbery and capital-murder charges from an October shooting in Little Rock.

Guyer resigned as a jail deputy April 23.

Metro on 05/01/2015

Upcoming Events