A local man considered a high-risk sex offender was arrested Tuesday after it was discovered he had given false information to Hot Springs police regarding his address and place of employment.
Ray Anthony Johnson, 36, who lists an address of 116 Chelle St., was taken into custody around 2:30 p.m. and charged with felony counts of failure to comply with sex offender registration and reporting requirements, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and registration offender-incorrect physical address, punishable by up to six years in prison.
Bond for Johnson, who also had a warrant for failure to appear, was set at $20,000 and he is set to appear Sept. 30 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, on July 15, HSPD detectives learned that Johnson, a level 3 convicted sex offender, was not living at the address on Bower Street he had provided when registering as a sex offender on March 27.
Detectives went to the residence to do a home verification check and spoke to the tenants who had been living there for several months, including in March, and they didn't know Johnson and confirmed he had not been living there.
Detectives also learned Johnson was not working at the place of employment he had listed on March 27 in violation of reporting requirements.
It was also alleged Johnson had renewed his Arkansas ID card on June 23 and listed the same Bower Street address in violation of the law governing ID card and driver's license.
• A local man was arrested Tuesday morning on a felony warrant for allegedly snatching his juvenile son away from the child's mother, the legal custodial guardian, without her permission last month.
Lew Wentzl Akard, 33, who lists an address of 100 Cones St., was taken into custody shortly before 10:30 a.m. and charged with interference with custody, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
He was later released on $3,500 bond and is set to appear Sept. 3o in district court.
According to the affidavit, on Aug. 21, around 9 a.m., the mother of a 6-month-old boy told police she was getting gas at the Buzz Buy Valero, 3801 Central Ave., and her son was in the back seat of her Honda Accord.
She was at the pumps getting gas when she heard the car door shut and looked back to see Akard putting her child, still in his car seat, into the back of his Dodge pickup. She yelled at him to stop, but he drove away.
She told police she attempted to call him, but he wouldn't answer the calls. On Aug. 25, shortly after 10 a.m., Akard's mother returned the child after detectives contacted her about the incident.
The mother provided detectives with copies of the paternity judgment from Aug. 12 giving the mother sole physical custody of the child. She noted she and Akard were never married and he doesn't have permission to take the child.
• A local man and woman were both arrested Tuesday afternoon on felony forgery charges for allegedly depositing fraudulent checks into their accounts in July and August.
Jermerial Aundrea Westbrook, 39, and
Shandrell Nichole Carlton, 32, who both list an address of 208 Fleet St., were both taken into custody around 3:15 p.m. at Oaklawn Park, 2705 Central Ave., and each charged with one count of second-degree forgery, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Both were later released on $3,500 bond each and are set to appear Sept. 30 in district court.
According to the affidavits, on July 30, the president of Diamond Bank Market reported that Carlton had deposited a check in her Diamond Bank account for $2,500 using one of the bank's drop deposit boxes on July 21.
The check was written on a US Bank account and was later determined to be fraudulent. Police were able to obtain security footage of the deposit and confirm it was Carlton that dropped the check off.
On Aug. 13, Diamond Bank reported that Westbrook, who had recently opened an account with the bank, deposited a check for $2,495.86 issued by USAA Federal Savings bank at a drop deposit box which later turned out to be fraudulent.
Police were again able to confirm it was Westbrook who deposited the check by matching security video to his driver's license photo.
Local on 09/18/2014