A convicted sex offender formerly living in Hot Springs pleaded guilty Monday in Garland County Circuit Court to a felony charge of failure to register as a sex offender or report an address change.
Brandon Steven Garrett, 33, who now lists a Camden address, was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years in prison, with the entire sentence suspended, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay a total of $220 in court costs and fees.
According to the affidavit, Garrett was convicted July 17, 2000, of first-degree sexual abuse for having sex with a 13-year-old female when he was 18 years old. He was assessed on Sept. 21, 2000, as a Level 1 offender, meaning he had the least possibility of reoffending.
The affidavit notes he was still required to follow the rules of the sex offender registry requiring him to register every six months and report any changes in employment, vehicle, phone number or residence.
On Aug. 13, 2014, Garrett came in and registered a new address and job with the Garland County Sheriff's Department and was told to return on Jan. 17, 2015, to do his six-month registration. As of Feb. 23, 2015, he had not come in to report and was 30 days out of compliance.
GCSD Investigator O.A. Wynn, who oversees the department's registered sex offenders, checked with Garrett's last listed employer and learned he had quit his job several months earlier and never reported it.
It was also determined Garrett had moved from his listed residence without reporting it and the person contacted at the phone number he listed "had never heard of him."
A warrant was issued for Garrett's arrest and he was taken into custody on April 1 and later released on $5,000 bond.
• A local woman arrested earlier this year in a raid by the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force pleaded guilty to a felony drug charge Monday in circuit court and was sentenced to six years in prison, with the entire sentence suspended.
Barbara Sue Phillips, 24, who lists a Bluff Street address, pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia while additional felony charges of possession of a controlled substance, methadone, and possession with purpose to deliver a controlled substance, heroin, were withdrawn by prosecutors.
In addition to the suspended sentence, Phillips was fined $2,500 and ordered to pay $595 in court costs. Phillips had remained in custody in lieu of $25,000 bond since her arrest April 8, 2015, and will be given credit for time served.
According to the affidavit, shortly before 8 p.m., DTF agents assisted by the Hot Springs police SWAT team executed a search warrant at a residence in the 100 block of Hackberry Street and detained one male suspect, 34, in the carport, two other male suspects, ages 34 and 30, in the kitchen and located Phillips hiding inside the master bedroom closet.
In searching the residence, agents reportedly found a plastic bag with 9.5 grams of suspected heroin in the floor of the bedroom closet where Phillips was located. Another bag with 21.6 grams of heroin was located inside a false compartment behind an electrical socket in the bedroom. A bottle of methadone was found on a bedside table in the same room along with a filled syringe, five spoons with residue, numerous used syringes and two digital scales.
In addition to the possession charges, Phillips was also charged with unauthorized use of another person's property to facilitate certain crimes, but that charge was later dismissed.
Local on 08/04/2015