Arkansas man wanted in kidnapping, witness intimidation case flees traffic stop, police say

Brad Chambers is shown in the photo released by the Fort Smith Police Department.
Brad Chambers is shown in the photo released by the Fort Smith Police Department.

An Arkansas man who is accused with several others of beating a man who was kidnapped earlier this year because he is a witness in a criminal case fled from authorities who pulled him over Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

Brad Chambers, 34, was in a van with stolen tags that officers stopped near Arkansas 45 and Siegenthaler Road, the Fort Smith Police Department said in a statement. When the vehicle pulled over, Chambers fled into woods between Arkansas 45 and U.S. 71 and was not located, the statement said, noting Chambers is believed to have been staying in hotels in the area.

Online court records show Chambers is one of several people facing charges of kidnapping and intimidating a juror in Pope County.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the kidnapping victim's mother on June 5 reported to police that she received information her son was being held against his will. The mother said it came after her son "had been receiving threats from white [supremacists] for providing information in a case" involving a man who had been arrested in front of the victim's home days earlier, the affidavit said.

The woman's son was located a short time later with one of the suspects in a vehicle stopped by Dardanelle police. He was bleeding and reported he had been beaten and stabbed, the affidavit said.

The victim said he went to meet a woman at a Russellville park but was dragged from his car and beaten, and both he and the woman were forcibly taken to a residence. There, the man was again assaulted, stabbed and threatened with death "because he was a witness in a case" against the man who was arrested in front of his home, the affidavit said.

The kidnapped man and woman were each forced to "write letters of apology" to the arrested man, the affidavit said, adding the people in the home were allowed to beat the male victim "one more time" after his letter was completed. Chambers is listed in the document as one of the men that then beat the victim.

A Fort Smith police spokesman said Chambers had not been located as of 9 a.m. Friday.

The others listed in court records as facing a kidnapping charge are: Chris Buber, Adam Mitchell, Russell Robinson, Timothy Ferguson, April Howell, Chris Everhart and Erin Hudson. Ferguson, Buber, Robinson, Howell and Mitchell are also each facing a charge of intimidating a juror. Randall Rapp is also facing a charge of intimidating a juror.

Chambers is also facing drug charges in Danville and will be charged with theft by receiving and fleeing in Fort Smith, authorities said.

Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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