A Hot Springs man was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to a felony drug charge stemming from a traffic stop last year.
Josh Paul David Walters, 39, who has remained in custody since his arrest Oct. 13, 2017, pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, meth, while an additional felony charge of possession of drug paraphernalia was withdrawn. In addition to prison time, he was ordered to pay $295 in court costs and will be given credit for time served.
Lena Bailey, 38, of Hot Springs, who was arrested at the same time on the same charges, is set to appear May 8 in circuit court for a hearing to determine the admissibility of statements she made at the time of her arrest.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Oct. 13, 2017, around 12:45 a.m., Garland County sheriff's Deputy Justin Parker was patrolling the area of Airport and Marion Anderson roads when he saw a white Ford Contour westbound with a defective license plate light.
He initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle at the Valero, 2070 Airport Road, and spoke with Bailey, who was driving the vehicle, and Walters, who was in the front passenger seat.
As Parker spoke with Bailey, he reportedly smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. He told Bailey and Walters to exit the vehicle and move to its rear.
Upon patting both of them down, Parker found a solid box-shaped object in the front left pocket of Walters' pants. The box slid down the front of his pants and hit the ground. The object was a metal container holding a small amount of marijuana residue.
Parker then searched the vehicle and found a glass pipe with meth residue inside, four small plastic bags of meth and a set of digital scales with meth residue on the plate. The total amount of meth found was 11.8 grams.
Local on 04/05/2018