A former Hot Springs police officer was arrested early Wednesday on felony charges alleging he molested a 9-year-old female on multiple occasions in Garland County beginning in January 2017.
Paul Henry Allen, 41, of Hot Springs, who resigned from the Hot Springs Police Department on Tuesday, was initially arrested by Malvern police in Malvern and transported to the Hot Spring/Garland County line where he was taken into custody by Garland County sheriff's deputies shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday and charged with four counts of second-degree sexual assault, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Allen was later released on $10,000 bond and is set to appear May 15 in Garland County District Court.
"As of May 2 (Tuesday), Mr. Paul Allen has resigned from the Hot Springs Police Department," Police Chief Jason Stachey said Wednesday. "The Garland County Sheriff's Department along with Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children are still in the process of conducting an investigation (into the allegations) to ensure complete objectivity and transparency."
Stachey noted Allen joined the HSPD in May 2005 and had achieved the rank of officer first class prior to his resignation Tuesday morning.
A gag order limiting pretrial publicity regarding the case was issued Wednesday morning by Garland County District Court Judge Meredith Switzer Rebsamen. Stachey declined to comment further, citing the gag order.
According to the affidavit, on April 27, sheriff's Sgt. Mike Wright and Investigator Jennifer Tonseth were forwarded a report from the Child Abuse Hotline indicating a 9-year-old female had disclosed to her schoolteacher she had been molested by a known suspect, identified as Allen.
The female was interviewed at the Cooper Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center that same day with the interview audio and video recorded. Wright and Tonseth later viewed the recorded interview.
The female allegedly disclosed the abuse began on Jan. 6, 2017 at a location in Garland County.
She alleged that Allen on more than one occasion had rubbed her buttocks, both on top of and underneath her clothing. She could not recall how many times the incidents occurred, but noted it was more than once with the last incident occurring on April 17.
She said she would sometimes pretend to be asleep when Allen touched her "because she was scared," the affidavit states.
Investigators reviewed text messages allegedly exchanged between Allen and another person, including one text in which Allen allegedly stated he once tried to move the female's hand toward his privates, but she woke up and he stopped.
In other text messages, Allen allegedly admitted to squeezing and touching the female's buttocks "four to five times" and that he stated he is "f - - - - - - sick" and "sorry for what he did" and that he didn't want to go to prison.
Local on 05/04/2017