Constable held in gun inquiry
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 firear…
Stories by Chad Day
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Club owner sentenced for money laundering
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 …
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New sheriff puts hold on fugitive
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.
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Ouachita County judge indicted
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 c…
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Helena man admits being drug runner
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 a…
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I-40 detour traffic clogging, battering stretch of U.S. 70
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 Bis…
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McDaniel’s records released
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…
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Drug-dealing prisoner given federal term of 224 months
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…
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Ex-officer guilty in drug-escort case
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 o…
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Framed by FBI ally, says ex-officer
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…
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Informant tells jury he hired officer to escort drugs
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 pub…
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Special agent reveals details of Delta probe
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…
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Jail freed fugitives while warrants sat
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 o…
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Rifle-toting ‘pot’ seller gets 5 years in Delta Blues case
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-4…
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Youth lockup is found up to par
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 imp…
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Guns case shows ripple effect
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…
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Traskwood woman gets life in murders of 2 men
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 fir…
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Whiteaker claims judge post
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.
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Cocaine buyer caught on tape gets 44 months
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 …
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5 get prison sentences in Texarkana drug case
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-…
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His voice on FBI tape, man says
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 t…
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U.S. honors prosecutors, lawmen for Delta Blues
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday recognized members of Arkansas’ Operation Delta Blues Task Force for distinguished public service.
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Ex-probation officer pleads innocent
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 traffickin…
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Guilty plea cuts off trial in killing
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 sen…
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Sheriff’s lapses hindering case-backlog trims, judges say
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 Ronni…
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Woman gets prison for buying gun
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 age…
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Drug-ring member gets 11 years
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.
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2 days after FBI arrest, state parole officer resigns
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 …
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Parole officer is Delta arrestee
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…
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2 plead guilty in Delta Blues case
Two Helena-West Helena men admitted in federal court Friday to their roles in two drug-trafficking rings that funneled hundreds of pounds cocaine and marijuana…
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Two more guilty in Delta drug case
A Marianna man admitted in federal court Wednesday that he helped distribute more than 110 pounds of cocaine over two years and fired a “warning shot” to prote…
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Necks crane skyward for air show
Halton Howard adjusted his earplugs, stretched his arms out and traced the formation of soaring C-130 Hercules airplanes overhead.
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Audit: More work needed in Phillips County courts
More needs to be done in the Phillips County Circuit Court to clear up the docket and keep the court from falling into a continual backlog, Arkansas Supreme Co…
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Hurricane ousts folks along river
Even the sheriff of this rural parish had to be boated out to safety Wednesday as a storm surge spawned by Hurricane Isaac inundated a string of communities al…
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Fun, not fear, in New Orleans as Isaac nears
For children scampering Tuesday along the banks of Lake Pontchartrain, the water that surged inland represented only the biggest and best rain puddle ever.
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Court pares case backlog
A special criminal court term — held to make a significant dent in the backlogged docket of Phillips County Circuit Court — ended last week, nearly three weeks…
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3 plead guilty in Delta Blues cocaine cases
State prison work-release inmate Andre Roddy was supposed to be mowing lawns and washing police cars while in custody at the Prairie County jail.
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Warrants still not entered in state database
Phillips County Sheriff Ronnie White has so far failed to comply with a judge’s 2-month-old order requiring the sheriff to “immediately” enter fugitive warrant…
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Delta ring’s second boss gets 22 years
The co-leader of a sprawling drug ring that dealt hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana in eastern Arkansas was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison W…
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Delta drug dealer draws 75 months
A Poplar Grove man who brokered the sale of an “AK-47 type” rifle to the leader of a sprawling drug ring in Helena-West Helena last year was sentenced to six y…
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Office-seeking deadline fake; probe ordered
A Phillips County circuit judge on Friday ordered an investigation into how a document purporting to be a Helena-West Helena city ordinance was filed in the co…
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Helena mayor fires District Court clerk
Helena-West He lena Mayor Arnell Willis fired the city’s District Court clerk Wednesday, just days after the city attorney dropped several drunken-driving char…
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No files, so court dismisses 20 cases
Missing files from the city’s District Court forced a judge Monday morning to dismiss numerous drunken driving charges that had been appealed to Phillips Count…
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Ex-detainee sues sheriff, chief
A former Phillips County jail inmate is suing the county’s sheriff and the Helena-West Helena police chief, saying in a federal lawsuit that they and their off…
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In court, still more missteps revealed
Mix-ups, miscommunication and errors continued to surface in the Phillips County judicial system last week as authorities worked to clear up a docket of yearso…
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Phillips County drops 197 felony cases
Prosecutors dropped nearly 200 Phillips County felony cases Wednesday, citing law enforcement failures to serve fugitive warrants in a timely manner.
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Court files show string of misses
At least a third of Phillips County’s most serious fugitive cases face dismissal because it’s too late to try them, court records obtained by the Arkansas Demo…
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Ex-officer’s drug-case sentence 80 months
A federal judge ordered Winston Dean Jackson to serve more than 6 1/2 years in prison Friday, making him the third former law enforcement officer to be sentenc…
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Log warrants now, judge orders sheriff
A circuit judge has ordered Phillips County Sheriff Ronnie White to immediately begin entering fugitive warrants into state and national crime databases, accor…
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Dearth of funds hinders justice
A new judge, a criminal case coordinator or more staff would help clear up a clogged court docket in Phillips County, but each of those remedies faces a big ob…
