A Hot Springs woman arrested earlier this year after falsely claiming her daughter was kidnapped, prompting a search by multiple Hot Springs police officers, pleaded guilty Monday in Garland County Circuit Court.
Tori Elizabeth Reynolds-Cochran, 29, who was set to stand trial Dec. 12, pleaded guilty to a felony count of filing a false report with a law enforcement agency, punishable by up to six years in prison, and was sentenced to five years' probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $570 in court costs.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on March 22, shortly before 3 p.m., officers responded to the parking lot of Sam's Club, 1368 Higdon Ferry Road, in reference to a possible kidnapping.
Upon arrival, officers made contact with Reynolds-Cochran, who told them her 3-year-old daughter was taken by an unknown Hispanic man dressed in a lime green jacket and bluejeans.
Officers looked in the area and were unable to find anyone who matched the description she provided. During the investigation, Cochran's brother was contacted and told police Reynolds' daughter had been with him since 7 a.m.
Sgt. Kirk Zaner told The Sentinel-Record at the time that multiple officers responded to the initial call, including patrol officers and four detectives. "Any time you have a missing child, especially if there is a possible abduction involved, time is of the essence," he said.
"We're going to use all available resources to find the child and they're going to stay there until the child is located," he said. "It creates a dangerous situation because the other officers out there are short-handed until the situation is resolved. You get other calls coming in and you have so many officers tied up on the search."
Zaner noted police had just issued an alert to other agencies to have them start looking when the child was located, but potentially multiple agencies could have been involved in the search.
Reynolds-Cochran was taken into custody and released the next day on $2,500 bond. She pleaded not guilty to the charge on May 21 and later entered into a six-month treatment program.
Local on 10/16/2018