Man pleads guilty to threatening neighbors with stolen gun

A Hot Springs man who threatened his neighbors with a stolen gun late last year pleaded guilty to felony charges Monday in Garland County Circuit Court and was sentenced to five years' probation.

Alexander Joseph Woods, 22, who was set to stand trial Sept. 19, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and theft by receiving of a firearm, each punishable by up to six years in prison, and in addition to probation was fined $1,000, ordered to pay $420 in court costs and barred from any future contact with the victims.

According to the probable cause affidavit, on Dec. 31, 2017, shortly after midnight, Hot Springs police responded to the 200 block of Freida Street regarding a disturbance and upon arrival spoke to a witness who stated she had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend, identified as Woods, inside her car.

She said Woods exited her car down the street from his residence and as she pulled up at his residence she saw Woods arguing with some of his neighbors outside. She said she was trying to get him to get back into her car when he reached in the car and grabbed a 9-mm handgun.

Officers spoke to the three neighbors who said they had been arguing with Woods in the front yard when he "became irate and was yelling at them." Then he went to a car that had pulled up in front and returned with a handgun.

The neighbors said he pointed the gun at two of them, including a 14-year-old boy, and ejected a live round from the weapon at one point. The round was later located in the yard beside the driveway.

They said Woods attempted to throw the gun back into the car, but it bounced off the front window and fell to the ground. Then Woods picked it up and threw it in the yard.

Officers located Woods standing in the street in front of 206 Freida and they found the handgun in the yard nearby without a magazine. On the floorboard of the girlfriend's car they reportedly found a metal box with one magazine in it and nine 9-mm rounds.

A check with the Arkansas Crime Information Center determined the handgun had been reported stolen. When told this, Woods said he got the gun about a year ago and "thought it might be stolen."

During a pat-down search, officers found a hydrocodone pill and one 9-mm round in his pockets. Woods was initially also charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance, but the charge was later withdrawn.

He was taken into custody and initially held without bond, but the bond was later set at $5,000 and he was released on Jan. 3, 2018. Woods, who had no prior felony criminal history, had pleaded not guilty to the charges on April 2.

Local on 07/19/2018

Upcoming Events