Chad Day
Stories by Chad
Shoffner lived rent-free for years, then had to pay
posted: 05/22/2013 5:31 a.m. Comments 12
Martha Shoffner stayed rent-free for most of her first term as state treasurer at a law office a few blocks from the state Capitol, her landlord confirmed Tuesday.
Shoffner, 68, under watch, sheriff says
posted: 05/20/2013 12:26 a.m. Comments 4
Arkansas State Treasurer Martha Shoffner spent most of Sunday alone in a cell meant for two at the Pulaski County jail.
Man says he was bait in plan to rob drivers
posted: 05/02/2013 12:49 a.m. Discuss
Elijah Mondy Jr., and his wife, Belinda, were driving home from Wal-Mart early Monday morning when they came upon a young man lying in the street in downtown Helena-West Helena.
Sheriff closes lockup found unsafe, dirty
posted: 05/01/2013 12:03 a.m. Comments 3
HELENA-WEST HELENA — Phillips County closed its jail Tuesday after a state inspection last month found that some of the jail’s locks didn’t work, inmates had easy access to materials they could fashion into weapons and human waste was overflowing onto cell floors.
Rep. Bell stirs up hornet’s nest
posted: 04/20/2013 4:58 a.m. Comments 32
It took 132 characters and a send button for Republican state Rep. Nate Bell to rile thousands across the nation Friday, sparking a furious online backlash that had Bell backtracking by midday.
Guilty 2 remain on board
posted: 04/11/2013 4:58 a.m. Discuss
Two Helena-West Helena city councilmen withstood pressure to resign their elected positions Tuesday, less than a week after the two men were convicted of misdemeanor crimes.
2 held, 2 sought in Helena man’s death
posted: 04/04/2013 12:01 a.m. Discuss
Helena-West Helena police have arrested two men and were seeking two others Wednesday who police say were involved in gunning down a local hamburger-stand owner during a botched winter robbery.
Delta drug dealer gets 200 months
posted: 03/16/2013 4:58 a.m. Discuss
A federal judge ordered a nearly 17-year prison term Friday for a Helena-West Helena man whom federal agents recorded in 2011 complaining about the quality of cocaine he’d purchased and accusing his purported drug supplier of shorting him.
Lee County drug dealer gets 25 years
posted: 03/09/2013 5:06 a.m. Comments 2
A Lee County convicted rapist and drug dealer who shot at federal agents as they tried to arrest him in 2011 was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday.
Judge cites law in dismissal of 2003 charge in girl’s rape
posted: 03/06/2013 12:05 a.m. Comments 2
An eastern Arkansas judge ruled Tuesday that prosecutors can’t pursue a nearly decade-old child rape case against a state prison inmate who served two separate sentences while Phillips County authorities thought he was a fugitive.
Judge reverses, orders constable held
posted: 02/23/2013 4:53 a.m. Discuss
A federal magistrate judge decided Friday to detain James Weldon King, a Phillips County constable who authorities say is a felon who hoarded fully automatic rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition at his home.
Hotel-redo bonds issued by city body lose tax-exempt status
posted: 02/22/2013 4:18 a.m. Discuss
The federal government will tax interest earnings on bonds intended to be tax exempt that were issued by a Little Rock public authority in 2004 to finance the renovation of a midtown hotel, a member of the authority’s board confirmed Thursday.
State leaders: Disability policy unwieldy
posted: 02/17/2013 4:14 a.m. Comments 2
Top officials from the Arkansas Department of Human Services and their state counterparts who handle federal disability claims agree that national policy needs to change if the rapid growth of Arkansas’ disabled on the Medicaid rolls is to be slowed.
Marianna drug seller sentenced to 30 years
posted: 02/14/2013 12:14 a.m. Comments 2
A federal judge ordered a 30-year prison sentence Wednesday for a convicted murderer and drug-ring leader from Marianna who admitted he bribed his parole officer for years in order to continue selling crack cocaine in the Arkansas Delta.
Agency: Gun licenses data correct now
posted: 02/13/2013 12:29 a.m. Comment 1
More than 100 nonexistent ZIP codes that were on the public list of concealedhandgun licensees have been fixed, an Arkansas State Police spokesman said Tuesday.
Judge named to unsnarl court district in Delta
posted: 02/12/2013 12:45 a.m. Discuss
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Monday assigned a retired circuit judge from Fayetteville to the 1st Judicial District, giving him the authority to assign, reprioritize and preside over cases in the Delta’s troubled court system. Kim Smith, who spent 15 years as a prosecutor and a judge in Northwest Arkansas, also will serve as a consultant, reporting his observations and recommendations to the Supreme Court.
Free constable in gun probe, judge orders
posted: 02/12/2013 12:33 a.m. Comments 2
A U.S. magistrate judge ordered the release Monday of a Phillips County constable accused of being a felon who stashed machine-gun parts in violin cases in his home and kept several fully automatic AK-47-style rifles in tubes on his property.
Hidden-guns list yields false data
posted: 02/10/2013 3:42 a.m. Comments 29
Three Arkansas concealed-handgun licensees live in the 75502 ZIP code. Two of them are men. The other is a woman. Or at least their names suggest that is the case, according to the Arkansas State Police’s list of permit holders.
Teen: Did violate probation
posted: 02/05/2013 4:33 a.m. Discuss
A 19-year-old man was sentenced to eight years in prison Monday after a Phillips County Circuit judge revoked the 20-year probation he was serving in a 2009 double-shooting that wounded one and left another dead.
Four get 20 years each in ’11 murder
posted: 02/05/2013 4:15 a.m. Discuss
Four Phillips County men were each sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for participating in a July 2011 shooting that left a 26-year old woman dead and three children wounded.
Benefits-link cited as mire for Medicaid
posted: 02/03/2013 4:36 a.m. Comment 1
Physically and mentally disabled Arkansans receiving federal disability benefits drove the state’s ballooning Medicaid costs over the past five years.
Constable held in gun inquiry
posted: 02/01/2013 12:53 a.m. Comments 3
A Phillips County constable was ordered detained Thursday after federal authorities say they discovered that he was a felon who had stashed more than 30 firearms in his home, including fully automatic AK-47-style rifles.
Club owner sentenced for money laundering
posted: 01/31/2013 3:15 a.m. Discuss
A federal judge agreed Wednesday to order probation, community service and a fine for Helena-West Helena nightclub owner Wayne Webb, who admitted last year to laundering about $90,000 in illegal gambling proceeds.
New sheriff puts hold on fugitive
posted: 01/27/2013 4:06 a.m. Discuss
In 2003, Thomas G. Ballard Jr. was charged in the rape of a young girl in Phillips County. Paperwork was filed. A warrant was issued, and a court date set.
Ouachita County judge indicted
posted: 01/18/2013 12:43 a.m. Discuss
Federal agents arrested Ouachita County Judge Mike Hesterly on Thursday in an indictment that accuses him of awarding FEMA disaster-relief funds to a Bearden contractor in exchange for an agreement to contribute to Hesterly’s 2010 re-election campaign, court documents released Thursday showed.
Helena man admits being drug runner
posted: 01/18/2013 12:23 a.m. Discuss
For nearly two years, Jessie Brewer’s apartment in Helena-West Helena was known to crack dealers and users as “The Projects,” a place where guns were stashed and drugs were easily available for purchase, prosecutors say.
I-40 detour traffic clogging, battering stretch of U.S. 70
posted: 12/26/2012 12:16 a.m. Comment 1
After a year of construction on Interstate 40 near the White River, the shift of heavy traffic onto U.S. 70 is most evident along an 8-mile stretch between Biscoe and Brinkley.
McDaniel’s records released
posted: 12/22/2012 2:53 a.m. Discuss
A Hot Springs lawyer who had an “inappropriate” relationship with Attorney General Dustin McDaniel reached out to his office a week after a man she referred to as an “old friend” was fatally shot at her Hot Springs home, according to documents released by the attorney general’s office late Friday.
Drug-dealing prisoner given federal term of 224 months
posted: 12/19/2012 5:40 a.m. Comment 1
A former state prison work-release inmate who used a contraband phone to broker cocaine deals from a county jail was sentenced Tuesday to more than 18 years in federal prison.
Ex-officer guilty in drug-escort case
posted: 12/15/2012 3:08 a.m. Comments 2
A federal jury convicted former Helena-West Helena police Lt. Marlene Kalb of extortion and attempted drug trafficking Friday but acquitted her of two counts of money laundering.
Framed by FBI ally, says ex-officer
posted: 12/13/2012 12:58 a.m. Discuss
A former Helena-West Helena police lieutenant testified Wednesday during her trial that she was set up by an FBI informant who made it falsely appear in secret recordings that she agreed to help him transport cocaine through the city in return for cash.
Informant tells jury he hired officer to escort drugs
posted: 12/12/2012 12:37 a.m. Discuss
A career drug dealer now living in Memphis spent most of Tuesday describing for jurors in a Little Rock federal courtroom the enormity and pervasiveness of public corruption in and around Helena-West Helena, where he grew up. Cornelious Coleman, 35, whom an FBI agent described as a true “player,” revealed a seedy world of drug deals, thefts and payoffs that blatantly thrived alongside official business.
Special agent reveals details of Delta probe
posted: 12/11/2012 12:52 a.m. Discuss
A former Helena-West Helena police lieutenant wasn’t an initial target of a public-corruption investigation in eastern Arkansas, but a fellow officer named her to stand in for him and provide an escort for a man believed to be carrying a load of cocaine, an FBI agent testified Monday.
Jail freed fugitives while warrants sat
posted: 12/09/2012 3:04 a.m. Comments 2
Last in a series — Phillips County Sheriff Ronnie White and his staff routinely released inmates from the county jail even though they were wanted in violent or drug-related crimes, records show.
Rifle-toting ‘pot’ seller gets 5 years in Delta Blues case
posted: 12/05/2012 12:31 a.m. Comments 5
A federal judge ordered a five-year prison sentence Tuesday for a Helena-West Helena man who admitted to trafficking pounds of marijuana and possessing an AK-47 rifle to protect his illicit drugs and drug proceeds.
Youth lockup is found up to par
posted: 11/21/2012 12:33 a.m. Discuss
The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that after nearly 10 years of federal court supervision, conditions at a oncetroubled state youth facility have improved so much that monitoring is no longer necessary.
Guns case shows ripple effect
posted: 11/09/2012 1:29 a.m. Comment 1
Part four in a series A Helena-West Helena man admitted in federal court Thursday that he spent months dealing drugs and illegally building up a small cache of high-powered firearms, all while he was charged in a 2010 doubleshooting case.
Traskwood woman gets life in murders of 2 men
posted: 11/08/2012 12:14 a.m. Discuss
A Traskwood woman charged with capital murder in the slayings of two men found buried in her backyard pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to lesser charges of first-degree murder.
Whiteaker claims judge post
posted: 11/07/2012 4:42 a.m. Discuss
Circuit Judge Phillip Whiteaker claimed victory late Tuesday night in the nonpartisan runoff race for District 1, Position 2 on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Cocaine buyer caught on tape gets 44 months
posted: 11/07/2012 1:55 a.m. Discuss
A federal judge ordered a nearly four-year prison term Tuesday for a Helena-West Helena man recorded by an FBI wiretap while purchasing cocaine on credit from his drug supplier.
5 get prison sentences in Texarkana drug case
posted: 11/03/2012 5:49 a.m. Discuss
A federal judge ordered lengthy prison sentences this week for five men indicted last year as part of a two-state drug investigation aimed at disrupting crack-cocaine trafficking in Texarkana.
His voice on FBI tape, man says
posted: 10/24/2012 1:17 a.m. Discuss
A Helena-West Helena man admitted in federal court Tuesday that it was his voice federal agents recorded last year complaining to his purported drug supplier that a powder-cocaine purchase wasn’t properly converting into the quality crack rocks he expected.
U.S. honors prosecutors, lawmen for Delta Blues
posted: 10/18/2012 3:30 a.m. Discuss
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday recognized members of Arkansas’ Operation Delta Blues Task Force for distinguished public service.
Ex-probation officer pleads innocent
posted: 10/17/2012 5:14 a.m. Discuss
A former state probation and parole officer pleaded innocent Tuesday morning to a federal indictment accusing her of turning a blind eye to the drug trafficking of a convicted murderer and another man she supervised in exchange for goods and cash.
Guilty plea cuts off trial in killing
posted: 10/10/2012 2:04 a.m. Discuss
As potential jurors waited to be seated Tuesday in Lakeithon Moody’s capital murder trial, the 26-yearold defendant accepted an 11th-hour plea deal and was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison for his role in a 2011 fatal shooting.
Sheriff’s lapses hindering case-backlog trims, judges say
posted: 10/06/2012 3:30 a.m. Comments 3
The five circuit judges in the 1st Judicial District say their ability to cut the backlog in Phillips County’s circuit court has been hindered by Sheriff Ronnie White’s failure to enter fugitive warrants into state and national crime databases, according to a letter made public Friday.
Woman gets prison for buying gun
posted: 10/02/2012 2:08 a.m. Discuss
A Marvell woman was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison Monday for buying a handgun for her drug-kingpin boyfriend that was later used to shoot an FBI agent.
Drug-ring member gets 11 years
posted: 09/26/2012 2:09 a.m. Discuss
A Helena-West Helena man who let two drug kingpins use his house to store firearms and sell crack cocaine was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison Tuesday.
2 days after FBI arrest, state parole officer resigns
posted: 09/20/2012 1:42 a.m. Comment 1
A state parole and probation officer, accused of taking bribes from a Marianna drug kingpin convicted of murder, resigned Wednesday, two days after her arrest by federal agents.
Parole officer is Delta arrestee
posted: 09/18/2012 1:43 a.m. Discuss
A convicted murderer and Marianna drug kingpin admitted Monday that he bribed his parole officer with cash, gifts and shoes in exchange for turning a blind eye as he distributed more than a hundred pounds of cocaine in the Arkansas Delta.
