A local felon caught driving on the sidewalk while impaired on drugs earlier this year was sentenced to five years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to felony drug charges.
Heather Michelle Alvis, 46, who has remained in custody on zero bond since her arrest Sept. 26, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to possession of cocaine with purpose to deliver and possession of Xanax with purpose to deliver while additional felony charges of possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia were withdrawn.
She also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated, drugs, and was fined $500, ordered to pay $320 in court costs, had her driver's license suspended and will have to complete an alcohol rehab program in prison.
Her five-year prison sentence on each of the felony counts will run concurrently with each other and with a five-year sentence for the revocation of her probation from her conviction on July 3, 2019, on felony charges of aggravated assault and first-degree terroristic threatening after shooting at her boyfriend's house and threatening to kill him on Dec. 7, 2018.
According to the probable cause affidavit on her drug charges, on Sept. 26, shortly before 4:30 p.m., Hot Springs police Officer Tyler Ward responded to the 3800 block of Central Avenue regarding an intoxicated driver after a passing Garland County Sheriff's deputy spotted a blue Nissan Xterra "driving on the sidewalk northbound on Central" with a flat tire.
Ward pulled into the parking lot of Chili's Grill & Bar, 3815 Central, and observed a woman, later identified as Alvis, leaning against her Nissan and noted she appeared unsteady on her feet with difficulty keeping her balance. He also noted she had glassy eyes with "pinpoint pupils" and appeared to have dry mouth with dried saliva on the corners of her mouth and "stringy saliva" on her lips.
Alvis told him she was in a wreck the day before and had a black eye, swollen nose and multiple cuts on her hands. Her car had visible front end damage and a flat front passenger side tire. She got down under her vehicle to check the spare tire and lost her balance standing back up.
Ward administered three field sobriety tests and Alvis failed all of them, exhibiting signs of being impaired. She submitted to a Breathalyzer test which showed a blood-alcohol result of zero percent.
Alvis admitted to using tramadol, Flexeril and Xanax so she was taken into custody for DWI. In searching her, Ward found a small silver container with eight Xanax pills.
In searching the vehicle, Sgt. John Tinney found a black duffle bag with 5.7 grams of what later tested positive for crack cocaine and three baggies of marijuana, with a total weight of 77.4 grams. He also found three pipes used for smoking cocaine and four more Xanax pills.
Local on 11/29/2019