HOT SPRINGS -- A man who was riding a bicycle in the dark without lights was arrested on felony drug charges early Thursday after being stopped by Hot Springs police.
Michael Andrew Tobias, 56, was taken into custody shortly after 2 a.m. and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, each punishable by up to six years in prison. Tobias reportedly had a warrant for failure to appear.
Tobias remained in custody Thursday in lieu of a $7,500 bond and is set to appear Oct. 17 in Garland County District Court. According to court records, he was convicted of felony hot checks in 1992 in Union County and sentenced to five years' probation, and in 1995 in Pulaski County for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to three years in prison.
According to the probable cause affidavit, at around 2 a.m. Thursday, Hot Springs police officers Acxsel Rios and Jose Castaneda were patrolling in the area of Hobson and Linwood avenues when they saw a Black male riding a dark-colored bicycle without a front light or rear reflector, and stopped it at Hobson and Maryland Street.
The male, identified as Tobias, was taken into custody after the warrant was discovered. In searching him, officers allegedly found a chrome storage tube containing a small baggie with 0.3 grams of what later tested positive for cocaine and a glass pipe with burned ends. Once at the jail, deputies allegedly also found a pill bottle in Tobias' possession which contained several baggies with white powder residue.