A welfare check lead to the arrest Saturday morning of a homeless man after drugs were allegedly found in a backpack he admitted belonged to him.
Christopher Blake Steed, 35, who lists "city streets" as his address, was taken into custody shortly before noon and charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance, meth, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of obstructing government operations for allegedly lying about his identity.
Steed, who also had misdemeanor warrants for theft of property and failure to appear, was being held on a $7,500 bond and was set to appear Monday in Garland County District Court. According to court records, he was convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance and two counts of theft by receiving in 2011 and sentenced to six years' probation, which was revoked in 2013 and he was sentenced to six years in prison.
According to the probable cause affidavit, around 11:45 a.m. Saturday, Hot Springs police responded to the 200 block of Rector Street for a welfare check on a white male who gave them what turned out to be a false name and date of birth when they made contact with him.
After continued questioning, the man finally gave his real name and was identified as Steed, who was found to have warrants for his arrest including theft of property for allegedly shoplifting several items at Walmart on Nov. 16, 2021.
Steed was taken into custody and reportedly told officers a black backpack located about 25 feet to his right belonged to him. In searching the backpack, officers allegedly found a candy bar wrapper inside a potato chip bag which contained a plastic baggie with 7.5 grams of a white, crystal substance that later tested positive for meth.