A local parolee sought on warrants who fled a traffic stop was arrested on felony drug charges early Sunday after a brief manhunt by Hot Springs police.
Tobias James Gormley Jr., 38, who lists a Nimbus Street address, was taken into custody shortly before 12:30 a.m. Sunday and charged with felony counts of possession of meth with purpose to deliver, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, punishable by six to 20 years, and possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver involving multiple pills, punishable by up to six years.
Gormley, who had misdemeanor warrants for two counts of theft of property and two counts of criminal trespass, was also charged with fleeing in a vehicle, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Gormley was being held on zero bond and was set to appear Monday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly before midnight Saturday, Officer Brandon McAdoo was patrolling in the 900 block of Airport Road when he saw a scooter with two occupants, male and female, without eye protection and activated his lights to make a traffic stop.
The driver, later identified as Gormley, continued and finally came to a stop in the 500 block of Airport where the female got off. McAdoo ordered Gormley over his PA system to pull up into the parking lot so they wouldn't block traffic.
At that point, Gormley allegedly fled on the scooter southeast down some nearby railroad tracks for about 50 yards until he lost control and fell over. He got to his feet and ran 100 yards down the tracks until McAdoo lost sight of him.
McAdoo stayed with the female and called for other units, including K-9 officer Chad Ford with his partner, Ork, who arrived and started tracking the suspect through the woods. A short time later, Ford and Ork located Gormley hiding behind some equipment in the 200 block of Vickers Place.
Gormley was taken into custody and while being escorted back to a unit reportedly told McAdoo he had a glass pipe in his waistband which the officer retrieved. In searching Gormley further, the officer found baggies in his jacket pocket containing a total of 16.6 grams of what later tested positive for meth, three clonazepam pills, 11 whole alprazolam pills, three broken alprazolam pills, digital scales and rolling papers.
Gormley was found to have the warrants for his arrest, both stemming from alleged shoplifting incidents at Walmart, 1601 Albert Pike, where he had previously been banned, on Oct. 29, 2018, and March 5, 2019, including one incident where he allegedly stole a 65-inch flat-screen television.
Local on 11/19/2019