A Royal man and a Hot Springs woman were charged Saturday with allegedly selling narcotics at Valley Street Skatepark.
Amber Jean Griffith, 26, who lists a Highway 290 address, and Austin Billy Ray Davis, 25, who lists a Propst Place address, were taken into custody shortly after 3 p.m. and charged with felony counts of possession of methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, punishable by up to 20 years in prison; possession of a schedule I or II controlled substance with purpose to deliver, and possession of a schedule III controlled substance with purpose to deliver, each punishable by up to 10 years; and possession of schedule IV or V controlled substance with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia, each punishable by up to six years.
They were also each charged with an additional misdemeanor count of possession of a schedule VI controlled substance with purpose to deliver, punishable by up to one year in jail. They remained in custody Monday in lieu of bonds totaling $36,000 and are set to appear May 31 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, Hot Springs police officers responded to the Skatepark at 411 Valley St. in reference to a white male selling drugs. Davis, who matched the description given, was observed going back and forth to a gold Oldsmobile with a white female, later identified as Griffith, sitting in the driver's seat.
Davis walked away from the vehicle after retrieving a cigarette from Griffith. The officers made contact with Griffith and told Davis to return to the car and he refused to allow the officers search his vehicle. Officer Shawn Stillian was contacted to bring his K-9, Onyx, to the location to walk around the vehicle.
Once at the scene, Onyx began at the rear of the vehicle working his way around the passenger side to the front of the vehicle. He then returned to the passenger side door and alerted by sitting and looking at the passenger door.
A search of the vehicle was conducted and the following contents were located inside: one plastic bag containing approximately 4.2 grams of what later field tested as meth, one plastic bag containing 3.9 grams of meth, one plastic bag containing 3.5 grams of a green leafy substance, one bottle containing 39 Xanax pills, 1 milligram Alprazolam, 0.2 gram of Opana, 0.9 gram of Hydrocodone, 0.3 gram of Buprenorphine, 25 milligrams Clozapine, 0.5 milligram Alprazolam, two Fentanyl patches, two digital scales and one glass pipe.
• A Hot Springs woman was reportedly punched several times Friday while attempting to separate her son and two juveniles during a dispute over a Confederate flag in a Hot Springs High School parking lot.
According to an incident report, at 5:50 p.m. Friday, Hot Springs police Officer Jason Greene responded to the high school parking lot, 710 Emory St., in reference to a fight that had occurred. The woman stated she was punched in the face while attempting to protect her son during a fight with other juveniles. The juveniles allegedly got into an argument over a Confederate flag sticker that was displayed in the back window of her son's vehicle.
The argument became physical when the two juveniles attempted to punch her son. She held her son tightly to her body to shield him from the punches, but was struck by both juveniles in the face. Another witness attempted to separate the parties, and was punched in the left side of the face. The woman described one student as 5 feet, 8 inches tall and the other as 6 feet, 3 inches tall, both wearing Hot Springs High School scrimmage jerseys.
The woman's son was not able to identify the students by name, but said he had just had football tryouts with both of them. No visible injuries were seen on the woman, but she said she had pain to her right cheek, and the witness suffered from pain in his left shoulder and ear. The woman said she wished to pursue charges.
Surveillance footage will be reviewed by the school resource officer in an attempt to identify the two juveniles, according to the incident report.
Local on 05/24/2016