An investigation into a recent break-in and theft resulted in the arrest Tuesday of a homeless felon after Hot Springs police allegedly caught him in the act of injecting himself with meth inside a tent in the woods.
Eric Todd Wilhelmi, 52, who lists no permanent address, was taken into custody around 3:30 p.m. near Section Line Trail and charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance, meth, punishable by up to six years in prison.
Wilhelmi was being held on a $2,500 bond and was set to appear Wednesday in Garland County District Court. He was previously convicted on Jan. 8, 2016, in circuit court of criminal use of a prohibited weapon stemming from his arrest during a Sept. 9, 2015, raid by 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force agents in which he was in possession of a handgun with a silencer. He was sentenced to five years' supervised probation, but on June 12, 2018, his probation was revoked and he was sentenced to six years in prison, but later paroled.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Tuesday, Hot Springs police responded to the west end of Section Line Trail after being advised by a victim of a recent break-in that he had learned some of his stolen items might be in a wooded area there.
Detectives Matthew Cheatham and Shawn Woodall and Officer Chris Shoemaker, along with the victim, entered the wooded area and located a tent on the property. As Shoemaker walked toward the tent, he noted he could see a man, later identified as Wilhelmi, sitting in the tent through the open tent screen.
He noted Wilhelmi had a syringe in his hand and was attempting to uncap the needle and place it into his right arm. Shoemaker said he "made my presence known" and told him to drop the syringe out of the tent.
Wilhelmi reportedly stated, "It's just a little bit of meth in there," but he complied and dropped the syringe outside and then came out. The syringe was collected and reportedly found to contain three dosage units of what later tested positive for meth so Wilhelmi was taken into custody.