Suspect sought for over a year on multiple warrants arrested

Childs
Childs

A Hot Springs man sought on multiple felony and misdemeanor warrants stemming from various incidents last year, who had eluded capture by Hot Springs police several times, was arrested late Friday after a brief pursuit.

John Colton Childs, 19, of 920 Cones Road, was taken into custody outside his residence around 10 p.m. after trying to run out the back door and after police had received an anonymous tip he was back at his home. Police had offered a reward for information leading to his capture and Officer 1st Class Joey Williams said Monday they would be paying the reward to the tipster.

"It works," Williams said of the reward offer. "You just got to dangle that carrot sometimes."

Childs, who had been spotted but fled from law enforcement on previous occasions, is charged with aggravated residential burglary and aggravated robbery, each punishable by up to life in prison, second-degree battery and first-degree criminal mischief, each punishable by up to six years, and three misdemeanor counts of fleeing on foot.

Childs, who also had multiple warrants for failure to appear, was being held on zero bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court. The case will likely be bound over to Garland County Circuit Court.

Childs was one of seven male suspects, including four juveniles, being sought by police for "numerous violent felony acts." The other six were arrested May 9, 2017, while Childs remained at large.

"We believe these individuals are responsible for several violent acts in the city in recent months," Hot Springs Police Chief Jason Stachey said at the time of the arrests of the other six. "We believe they are all connected and this group is responsible for them."

At that time, police had asked for the public's help in locating Childs, described as "armed and dangerous," and he was featured on the department's social media multiple times finally culminating with the reward being offered.

The aggravated robbery and battery charges stem from an incident that reportedly occurred on Jan. 11, 2017. According to the affidavit, Officer Chris Chapin responded to Childs' Cones Road residence in reference to a robbery and was told by the male victim, 52, that five to six young males had attacked him and stolen his wallet while he was in the front yard of the residence.

The victim said he was punched, kicked and struck with what he later identified as a glass bottle, which caused a deep cut near his right eye. One of the males took his wallet, and then they all fled in a black sport utility vehicle.

Chapin made contact with Childs' mother, who said she saw two known suspects and several other males attacking the victim. She said all of the males involved in the attack were friends with her son.

At around 4:35 p.m. that day, police Detective Kenny May spoke to the victim at National Park Medical Center. May noted the victim was still bleeding heavily from the cut above his eye and had blood on his right arm, right hand, nose and face and redness and bruising on his left torso.

The victim told May he had arrived at the residence shortly after 3 p.m. When he exited his truck, one of the males called him "a (expletive)" and then he was attacked. He said he was struck in the head and fell to the ground, and five to six males then began to hit him in his head and kick him in the torso before fleeing the scene.

After they left, the victim realized his wallet, containing personal cards, identification and money, had been stolen.

On April 28, one of the suspects was questioned and reportedly said Childs had participated in the attack along with the others, hitting the victim multiple times, and then fled with the others.

According to the affidavit on the aggravated residential burglary, on March 22, 2017, shortly before 4:30 a.m., a juvenile victim alleges four males forced their way into his residence on Emory Street. Once inside, one suspect, later identified as Childs, pointed a handgun at him and his 10-year-old sister and yelled, "Where's the money at?"

Then a second known suspect pointed a handgun at the victim and said, "Talk (expletive) now (expletive)!" The victim said he told him, "Please, man, not in front of my little sister." He said the suspects took their focus off him long enough for him to grab his little sister and run out the door to a neighbor's house.

The victim's mother was able to provide police with security video showing four males approaching the residence. The victim noted he and one of the suspects had a prior conflict with each other.

On April 8, former police Detective Paul Allen assisted patrol on a traffic stop in which two adults and three juvenile suspects were arrested on unrelated charges. On April 14, Allen interviewed one of the juveniles and asked about three recent violent incidents.

The juvenile said he had seen the security footage from the Emory incident on Facebook and Childs had told him about it. He said Childs told him he wanted to do "a mission" and he and another suspect had picked up the other two suspects.

Childs allegedly told him they knocked on the door about 10 times to see if anyone was home. When they decided the residence was empty, they knocked down the security camera, pulled out their guns, kicked the door in and went inside.

After making entry, they discovered there were people inside. The description Childs gave of the male they found inside matched that of the juvenile victim on Emory and he noted the other person was "a little girl."

Childs reportedly claimed he didn't point his gun at the girl, but he did point it at the male juvenile. The witness said Childs referred to the incident as a "blank mission" because they panicked when they saw the girl and didn't take anything. They then ran to a nearby parking lot and fled the area in their vehicle.

Allen obtained still shots from the video and showed them to the witness who identified three of the suspects, including Childs, and warrants were issued.

Local on 02/27/2018

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