Fake-agent suspect charged

HOT SPRINGS -- A Murfreesboro man has been charged with impersonating an Arkansas Tobacco Control agent at a Hot Springs liquor store earlier this month after the recent arrest of his alleged accomplice.

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Jeremy Allen Combs, 27, of Murfreesboro was charged with first-degree criminal impersonation, a felony punishable by up to six years in prison. He is set to appear June 7 in Garland County District Court.

His suspected accomplice, Joseph Tyler Stead, 20, of Hot Springs, was arrested May 12 on the same charge.

According to an arrest affidavit, an employee at Big A's Liquor, 501 Park Ave., told Hot Springs police May 7 that two men had entered the business and said they were Arkansas Tobacco Control agents.

Combs is accused of telling a clerk and the store's owner that they owed money for purportedly selling alcohol to a minor, identified as Stead.

The next day, investigators obtained security footage from the liquor store and watched Combs and Stead enter the store and wait on the clerk as he finished with customers.

Photographs from the video footage were shared with the public, leading police to Stead and Combs. On May 11, the clerk viewed a photo lineup and reportedly identified Stead as the person who presented himself as the minor and Combs as the agent.

Metro on 05/28/2016

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