Eight arrested in theft/drug ring

By Danielle Brown

The Glenwood Herald

(Mike Graves was kind enough to share this news item with KVRE radio.)

Pike County Deputies have made several arrests relating to several residential burglaries throughout the area. 

Last week, the Pike County Sheriff’s Office received a tip about burglaries that were reported in last weeks’ Glenwood Herald. The informant advised Pike County Detective Clark Kinzler of a local individual that allegedly had knowledge of the persons responsible. Det. Kinzler made contact with the witness and conducted an interview, which subsequently provided a break in the case.

Based from information from the interview, an arrest warrant was secured for Callie Deanne Fox, 22, of Kirby, on Thursday, January 31. At the time the arrest warrant was issued, a search warrant for Fox’s residence at 2688 Highway 70 West in Kirby, was also obtained.

Pike County Sheriff Charlie Caldwell and Chief Deputy Jerry Lowery coordinated with sheriffs’ department deputies along with assistance from Ronnie White with the Arkansas Game and Fish, and members of the South Central Drug Task Force, for joint service on the search warrant.

Prior to serving the warrant, Pike County Deputy David Shelby observed a 2001 black Honda Accord proceeding north on Highway 70 in the direction of Glenwood. Shelby and Deputy George Donaldson, initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle, assisted by Philip Glascow of the Arkansas State Police. During a search of the vehicle, officers discovered large amounts of methamphetamine and paraphernalia inside. Additionally, deputies discovered evidence linking the suspects to several reported burglaries in the area. At that time, the three persons in the car, Callie Deanne Fox, John Oscar Hibbs and William Chase Hitchens, were taken into custody. Following completion of the traffic stop, the officers proceeded to the address at 2688 Highway 70 West to execute the search warrant. During the search, additional narcotics and evidence of area thefts were recovered from the residence. Also recovered from Fox’s residence and the vehicle search, were multiple items showing numerous identity theft. Those items included state issued identifications, mail belonging to other people, debit cards, social security cards, checkbooks, etc.

All suspects were transported to the Pike County Sheriff’s Office for interviews.

Hibbs, 44, of Hot Springs, was charged with possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, a class B felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony; and theft by receiving, a class D felony. Bond has been set at $1 million by District Judge K. Leanne Daniel.

Hitchens, 26, of Hot Springs, was charged with possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, a class B felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony; and theft by receiving, a class D felony. Bond has been set at $1 million by District Judge K. Leanne Daniel.

Fox, 22, of Kirby, has been charge with possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, a class B felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony; and theft by receiving, a class D felony. Bond has been set at $1 million by District Judge K. Leanne Daniel. Fox was also charged with two counts of theft of property with an additional $25,000 bond.

Kinzler also related that multiple additional charges are expected to be filed on Fox, Hibbs and Hitchens.

According to Det. Kinzler, Fox is currently out on bond from Garland County for possession to manufacture. Hibbs is currently out on bond in Garland County for two counts of possession of firearm by certain persons, theft greater than $25,000 and residential burglary.

Confessions from Fox, Hibbs and Hitchens led deputies to additional suspects in the Kirby and Murfreesboro areas. Their initial interviews provided information about drug trafficking in the area which led to a vehicle stop of two more subjects, Robert Redleaf and Amy Brown. During the stop, Deputy Donaldson discovered a substance believed to be methamphetamine. Donaldson then contacted Deputy David Shelby and Det. Clark Kinzler for assistance. Following the traffic stop, both subjects were transported to the Pike County Sheriff’s office where they were also questioned about their knowledge of local area burglaries. Both suspects denied knowledge of the activity.

Redleaf, 29, of Amity, was charged with possession of controlled substance methamphetamine, a class D felony. Bond has been set for $15,000.

Brown, 24, of Mt. Ida, was charged with possession of controlled substance methamphetamine. Bond has been set for $5,000.

Continuing to follow information from the initial interview, Det. Kinzler drafted a search warrant for a house on 3rd street in Murfreesboro. On Sat., Feb. 2, several agencies including PCSO deputies, Murfreesboro Police Department’s Randy Lamb and Stephen Coleman, AGFC and DTF officers, were able to execute the search warrant at the 3rd Street address, resulting in three more felony arrests on suspects Brandon Stevens, Bethany Noelle Horn and Calvin Stewart. The search turned up more methamphetamine as well as recovering several thousand dollars worth of suspected stolen property. So far arrests and search warrants have produced evidence in solving five of the recently reported burglaries.

Stevens, 37, of Murfreesboro, was charged with Possession of Controlled substance methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, a class C felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony; and theft by receiving, a class C felony. Bond for Stevens is set for $75,000.

Bethany Noelle Horn, 32, of Murfreesboro, was charged with Possession of Controlled substance methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, a class C felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony; and theft by receiving, a class C felony. Bond for Horn is set at $75,000.

Calvin Stewart, 45, of Caddo Gap, was charged with Possession of Controlled substance methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, a class C felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class D felony; and theft by receiving, a class C felony. Bond for Stewart is set for $75,000.

“People need to keep continuous check on their banking and credit report information,” Det. Kinzler explained. “There are numerous victims of identify thefts resulting from these arrests. We are notifying victims as we work through this information. There may be countless others,” he added.

Kinzler also advised residents to remove mail from mailboxes as soon as possible each day and if possible, utilize a locking mail device or a post office.

“Make it as hard on criminals as you can, “Det. Kinzler said. “And please continue to watch out for your neighbors. In this case, a tip started a whole trend of arrests. We really appreciate our residents calling in suspicious activity,” he said. “Especially in our rural county.”

If you have any information to add to this ongoing investigation, you are asked to call the Pike County Sheriff’s Office at (870) 285-3315 or (870) 285-3301.

Photos taken by The Glenwood Herald of recovered items follow.

For the latest details on this news story see The Glenwood Herald and The Montgomery News.