A Hot Springs man was charged Monday afternoon with multiple felonies, including a scooter theft that occurred in November 2015.
Gerald Andrew McGuiggan, 33, who lists a Higdon Ferry Road address, was taken into custody around 4 p.m. at 206 Mason St. and charged with felony counts of possession of methamphetamine with purpose to deliver and second-degree forgery, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, possession of a schedule IV controlled substance with purpose to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, obtaining a controlled substance through fraud, theft of property and theft by receiving, each punishable by up to six years.
McGuiggan was also charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of a schedule VI controlled substance with purpose to deliver, theft by receiving and unauthorized use of a vehicle, each punishable by up to one year. He remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $20,700 bond and is set to appear May 17 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, McGuiggan was located on Monday in the 200 block of Mason Street walking through a front yard as investigators were executing a felony warrant. After complying with investigators' commands to drop a black bag to the ground, it was searched and allegedly contained 1 gram of what later field tested positive for meth, 1 gram of suspected marijuana, a bag containing 36 Lorazepam pills, three hypodermic needles, a smoking pipe, 38 plastic bags and a small digital scale.
Investigators also located a checkbook that was reported stolen and a confirmed fraudulent prescription of oxycodone to McGuiggan.
One charge stems from the alleged theft of several antique perfume bottles and purses from Historic District Antiques, 514 Central Ave., on April 12. The next day, the items were located for sale on eBay through a pawnshop. It was determined that seven perfume bottles, antique eyeglasses and an ostrich skin purse were purchased by Mason's Coin and Pawn, 2038 Central Ave., from McGuiggan.
Another stems from an incident that occurred on Feb. 23. An employee of Regions Bank, 900 Albert Pike Road, stated that McGuiggan entered that location and attempted to cash a stolen check. He provided a driver's license number and the check, which was made out to him, came back on a Regions customer's account. The customer was contacted and claimed the check was stolen.
It was determined through video surveillance and the driver's license number that McGuiggan was the person who allegedly tried to cash it.
On Nov. 1, 2015, McGuiggan allegedly asked to borrow a person's scooter to run to the store. After the person made attempts to contact McGuiggan when he did not return the scooter, he later reportedly refused to return it.
Local on 05/04/2016