A Bauxite woman was arrested on felony charges early Thursday at Lake Ouachita State Park after she was allegedly found with a loaded gun and meth in her possession.
Donna Kay Mitchell, 54, was taken into custody shortly after 8:30 a.m. and charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and a firearm, punishable by up to life in prison, and possession of a controlled substance, meth, punishable by up to six years in prison.
Mitchell, who lists no prior criminal history, was being held on a zero bond and was set to appear Friday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Arkansas State Parks Ranger Blake Hudson was on patrol at Lake Ouachita State Park when he saw a small Ford Ranger pickup truck parked at the B/C bath house.
"Due to having very few campers in the park, I did not recognize this vehicle as belonging to a registered guest," Hudson said, so he turned around and checked the license plate, which returned to a Mitsubishi car.
He decided to wait in the area and make contact with the occupants of the truck when they exited the bath house and, about 30 minutes later, two women came out and he approached them before they got back in the truck.
He asked the women what they were doing and they stated they were using the shower. He noted it is a violation of park directives for nonregistered guests to utilize the shower facilities in Arkansas state parks.
Hudson asked for their ID and one woman handed him her driver's license from a bag she was carrying, but the other, later identified as Mitchell, said her driver's license was in the truck.
He allowed Mitchell to retrieve her ID and upon opening the door to the truck, he allegedly detected an odor of marijuana. When asked about it, Mitchell said she was unsure why it smelled like that, but claimed "multiple people use the vehicle" and she was just borrowing it.
She then reportedly admitted there were "probably" some THC vape cartridges in her purse.
Hudson then asked if there was any meth in the vehicle and the other woman said there was not, but Mitchell allegedly "just dropped her head." He then asked her how much she had and she reportedly said she didn't know.
When asked, she told him the meth was "probably in her purse" which was still in the truck. In searching the truck, Hudson allegedly found a .22-caliber Ruger semi-automatic handgun in the center console. He noted the magazine was loaded and there was one round chambered.
In searching further, he reportedly found a small baggie with what appeared to be meth in Mitchell's wallet. Both women were detained and Mitchell allegedly claimed someone had given her the meth a few days ago and "she had forgotten about it." In searching further, Hudson found some empty THC vape cartridges, but nothing else.
When asked if she claimed responsibility for the meth, Mitchell said, "Well, they were in my purse, so I guess so."
Mitchell was taken into custody at that point and the other woman was released. The substance in the baggie was tested at the jail and confirmed to be meth, approximately 1 gram. The other woman took possession of the truck and was allowed to leave the scene.