A Hot Springs woman was arrested Tuesday on a felony charge of filing a false police report after she claimed her car was stolen but allegedly fled the scene of a wreck in Benton last week.
Elizabeth Mary Margaret Smith, 43, of 377 Chappel Hill Road, was already in custody at the Garland County Detention Center from her arrest Oct. 1 for three counts of failure to appear when she was served Tuesday with the felony warrant for a charge of filing a false report with a law enforcement agency, punishable by up to six years in prison.
Smith was initially being held on a $2,500 bond, but after appearing Wednesday in Garland County District Court her bond was set at $5,000 and she is set for a felony review hearing on Nov. 4. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail on the failure to appear charges and is set to be released on Oct. 30.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Oct. 1, Smith filed a burglary report with Hot Springs police claiming that between 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. that day someone entered her residence on Chappel Hill and took the keys to her white 2008 Ford Fusion from a key ring on the kitchen wall and that her car was missing.
That same day, shortly before 8:30 p.m., Benton police contacted the HSPD regarding Smith's stolen vehicle, which was reportedly involved in a hit-and-run collision with a motorcycle on Highway 67 at its intersection with Interstate 30.
On Oct. 2, shortly before 1:30 a.m., the Saline County Sheriff's Department contacted HSPD to report they found Smith's vehicle abandoned on Pawnee Drive in Benton. HSPD Detective Shaun Stillian obtained copies of the police and sheriff's reports which showed the wreck occurred at 3:55 p.m. on Oct. 1 involving a car belonging to Smith and her husband.
The driver of the motorcycle stated immediately after the collision, the passenger, who he identified as Smith's husband, came over to check on him. After learning he was OK, the passenger got back in the vehicle, which fled westbound.
Stillian spoke to the motorcycle driver on the phone and asked him how he knew who the passenger was and he said responding officers had shown him a photo of Smith's husband and he confirmed that was the person who checked on him. He described the driver of the car as a white female, 5 feet, 4 to 5 inches tall, with dark hair, in her 40s. He noted the car had heavy damage to the front end and windshield because he rolled into the windshield, "caving it in."
Stillian spoke to a witness who owns a car lot 2 miles west of where the wreck occurred. He said a white male and female came onto his lot asking about a bumper for their vehicle. He said there was heavy front end damage to the car and the windshield was caved in. He told them he didn't have anything on his lot that would work.
The man told him he would give him $20 if they could leave the car on his lot until they could get it towed but he refused and told the couple to leave. He said they asked him if he knew of any back roads to Hot Springs because that's where they lived and he told them no, and they left. He gave a description of the woman, which Stillian noted matched that of Smith.
On Oct. 3, Stillian interviewed Smith about the car theft report and she allegedly told him she and her husband were coming back to Hot Springs from Little Rock and stopped at a service station just off I-30.
When she went to get back on the interstate she said she missed the turn and "cut the wheel sharply to the left, trying to cross the eastbound lane of traffic, and get onto I-30." She said she pulled in front of a motorcycle causing it to impact her vehicle. She said her husband got out and checked on the driver and after learning he was OK, they fled the scene.
Smith said they drove a couple of miles and pulled into a car lot looking for a new bumper. They were told to leave and drove a couple more miles before abandoning the vehicle on the side of the road and calling a friend to come pick them up.
Once they got back to Hot Springs, she said they decided to call police and report the car stolen. She reportedly told Stillian "she knew it was wrong for her to do but she was scared and didn't know what else to do." She said she knew her tags were expired, she didn't have insurance or a valid driver's license and that she had warrants for her arrest.
Asked to describe the damage to her car, she said the front end was damaged "real bad" and the windshield was so damaged "they could hardly see out of it." She said that was why they left it on the road because she didn't think they would make it back to Hot Springs in it.
Local on 10/11/2019