On Thursday afternoon Deputies with the Union County Sheriff’s Office and Agents with the Thirteenth Judicial Drug Task Force executed a search warrant on a residence located at 701 Wildwood Drive in El Dorado.


Crack Cocaine and Marijuana were found and seized during the search of the residence along with several firearms.


Arrested at the residence was:








Robert James, 26 who gave an address of 701 Wildwood Drive El Dorado.

James was arrested on charges of delivery of a controlled substance crack cocaine and possession of a controlled substance crack cocaine and marijuana.

He is being held in the Union County Jail pending a first appearance hearing on Friday.

On Thursday afternoon Deputies with the Union County Sheriff’s Office and officers with the Smackover Police Department and Drug Task Force executed a search warrant on a residence located at 415 West 4th Street in Smackover.

Crack cocaine and the illegal drug Ecstasy was seized during the search.


Arrested at the residence was:








Kyron Cotton, 24, who gave an address of 415 West 4th Street, Smackover. Cotton was arrested on a warrant for three counts of delivery of a controlled substance crack cocaine and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver crack cocaine and possession of ecstasy.























Eric Trave Mitchell, 29, who gave and address of Hwy 278 Chidester. Mitchell was arrested for possession of controlled substance crack cocaine with intent to deliver.






















Brent Stevens, 21, who gave an address of 405 West 4th Street in Smackover. Stevens was arrested for possession of controlled substance crack cocaine with intent to deliver.
















Union County Sheriff Ken Jones stated that the residence at 415 West 4th in Smackover has been under investigation by his office for several weeks and that Cotton was the person who lived there and was mostly responsible for the illegal drugs being sold from the residence.

All three will be held in the Union County Jail pending a first appearance hearing on Friday.

On Wednesday night Narcotics Investigators with the Union County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jicobi Williams, 25, who gave an address of 176 Wildwood Circle, El Dorado.









Williams was arrested around midnight on the parking lot of a business located on Highway 167 south of El Dorado.



He was arrested when investigators seized over two ounces of ICE from him, a pure form of crystal methamphatime.

Williams is being charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance –methamphatime with intent to deliver a class “Y” felony. He is being held in the Union County Jail on that charge pending a first appearance hearing on Friday.







Sheriff Ken Jones stated that this arrest was a major arrest in his office’s efforts to combat illegal drugs in the area.
This arrest was made due to tips received from concerned citizens who had witnessed suspicious activity on the parking lots of the local business after hours. We very much appreciate those calls, Jones stated.
Jones stated that the street value of the drugs seized on Wednesday night was well over $5,000.
If convicted, Williams could face from 10 to 40 years or life in prison, Jones stated. "I strongly encourage people to call my office at 870-864-1970 if they have information concerning illegal drugs" Jones said. "You do not have to give your name and all information will be kept strictly confidential. Our success is greatly advanced when we have the community working with us and supporting us. This case is a prime example."

On Thursday afternoon Union County Sheriff Ken Jones and Deputies with the Union County Sheriff’s Office along with the Arkansas State Police executed a search warrant on a residence located at 904 West Elm Street in the City of El Dorado .
Jones stated that the residence and its occupants had been under investigation by his office for several weeks and that a search warrant had been obtained after Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Investigators made several undercover drug purchases from the residence.
During the search of the residence, approximately five ounces of crack cocaine and several hundred tablets of the illegal drug Ecstasy were seized. Jones stated that the value of drugs seized at the residence could well have exceeded $10,000 in street value.



Arrested at the residence were:








Charles Undre Montgomery, 28 who gave an address of West Second Street in El Dorado . Montgomery was arrested on a warrant for three counts of delivery of controlled substances crack cocaine, possession of controlled substance crack cocaine with intent to deliver, maintaining a Drug Premises, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
"Montgomery had previously been arrested, just one month ago, on a warrant for two counts of delivery of crack cocaine." Jones said. Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Investigators recognized him in the lobby of the Union County Criminal Justice Facility as a person they had purchased drugs from at a South Washington Street residence that had been searched by the Sheriff’s Office the pervious day. Jones said that Montgomery was released that same day on a $50,000 bond and was out on that bond when arrested Thursday afternoon.
"The minute Montgomery walked out of the jail on August 19th he started right back selling drugs on the streets of El Dorado, and we started right back making more cases on him" Jones said.





















Bobby Robertson, 27 who gave an address of 706 North Myrtle Street in Warren.
Robertson was arrested on the charges of Possession of Controlled Substance crack cocaine with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia

























Tiesha Hill, 26, who gave an address of 706 Myrtle Street in Warren .
Hill was arrested on the charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance Crack Cocaine with intent to deliver.























Priscilla Holmes, 25 who gave an address of 1224 Mosely Circle , El Dorado .
Holmes was arrested on the charges of Possession of Controlled Substance crack cocaine with intent to deliver, Possession of a Controlled Substance Ecstasy with intent to deliver and maintaining a Drug Premises.




















Jonathan Holmes, 19 who gave an address of 800 Short Nelson Street in El Dorado.
Holmes was arrested on the charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance Crack Cocaine with intent to deliver.








Jones stated that all five suspects will be held without bond pending a first appearance hearing in the Union County District Court on Friday afternoon.

AG targeting price gouging in wake of Ike

Half a dozen gas stations across Arkansas to receive subpoenas, attorney general tells Rotarians By JAMIE DAVIS News-T imes Staff

Half a dozen gas stations across the state will be receiving subpoenas in the coming days for price gouging, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel told the El Dorado Rotary Club on Monday.

"Gustav did cause some serious trouble in Arkansas. We took enormous hits in terms of fl ooding and power outages, and only as we were getting back to some level of normalcy, do we have Hurricane Ike come in," McDaniel said. "The biggest thing that impacted my offi ce out of Ike was the gasoline prices."

McDaniel said as Ike began approaching oil refi neries and the gasoline pipeline out of Te x as that services Arkansas, "a great deal of consumer hysteria" ensued.

"What we saw was some raging price increases overnight Thursday night," he said. "Friday, my offi ce was fl ooded with phone calls. We were hit with more phone calls over Ike than, according to (Arkansas Governor) Mike Beebe, we got in the wake of Katrina."

The "worst offenders," Mc-Daniel noted, were in his hometownofJonesboro,where some stations increased their prices by as much as $1.20 per gallon "on gas already in their tanks in their ground on their property."

"We heard rumors of $6 a gallon gas in El Dorado and Texarkana, but we saw no evidence of that. I don’t think that ever occurred. One of the things we wanted to do was to flush out the difference between rumor and fact," he said.

In response to consumer concern over gas prices, Mc-Daniels’ offi ce established an e-mail account to which consumers could send photos or accounts of price gouging. He also issued a warning of stiff penalties to gas stations that attempted to profi t illicitly, he said - a warning that came immediately after Beebe declared a state of emergency in the state because of interruptions in Arkansas’ gasoline supply.

Now, said McDaniels, those who stand accused of price gouging will be facing serious consequences.

"If they got over $4.10 or $4.25 last week, they are going to get a very close look from us," he said.

However, noted McDaniels, the Attorney General’s offi ce is "extremely appreciative" of companies that showed "good corporate conduct" during Ike.

"I was telling Claiborne Deming at Murphy Oil this morning that I appreciate the retailers who demonstrated restraint and caution during that time and who were deferential to their customers.

That’s good corporate citizenship in a time of need," said McDaniels.

In outlining his office’s activities over the past year, McDaniels said he was "very pleased" in January when the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that "no matter what license that a payday lender held on the wall, they were not authorized to violate the state constitution."

"What they were doing was, in fact, in violation . . . if you charge somebody 600, 700, 800 percent interest on a $200 check, you’ve got to answer to God for that, if you ask me, but in the meantime, you’ve got to answer to the Attorney General’s offi ce," he said.

A cease-and-desist letter was sent to 156 payday lending centers in the state, saying "you can continue what you’re doing, you just can’t do it at the rates you’re doing it at," McDaniels said. He noted that 75 percent of those who received a letter have shut down, and those who haven’t "are trying diligently to continue business in some format that is legal."

"I’ve never had a problem with the lipstick on a pig phrase before, but apparently, it’s become a politically touchy phrase. But I will say, they can put lipstick on pig all they want. As long as it’s still a pig, we’re going to treat it that way, and those who are legitimately changing their business practices, I applaud them," he said. "We do need credit options for people who need high-risk, short-term, low-dollar credit, and I don’t want to take those options away from the people who need them, but because they are in need, does not make it right to prey on them."

Also in the past year, Mc-Daniels’ offi ce has worked to eradicate the methamphetamine problem in Arkansas.

He served as co-sponsor of a bill to move cold medications behind the counter at pharmacies.

"We know that made it inconvenient for a lot of us whose noses get stopped up to get Sudafed when we need it, but it made it even tougher on those folks who were going out and buying it by the case so they could run clandestine meth labs," he said.

Although that measure helped, it wasn’t enough because those individuals began visiting several different pharmacies to get such products, McDaniels said, referring to meth as "Satan incarnate."

"(Union County Sheriff) Ken Jones and his fellow sheriffs helped pass a law to create an online tracking system," he said, noting that such purchases are brought to the attention of "every law enforcement officer within 20 miles. We set the national standard on using technology to fight meth amphetamine. We are going to make meth a thing of the past in Arkansas, so help me."

However, the decline of meth will lead to an increase in drugs like crack cocaine and heroin, McDaniels said.

Of particular concern is a rise in the use of prescription drugs by teenagers.

"The Attorney General’s offi ce has created a program called BeStreetSmart.org, using (revenue from) lawsuits, not tax dollars, to run public service announcements to make parents and citizens aware of the dangers and of what we’ve got in terms of resources," McDaniels said.

In addition to fi ghting drugs in the state, said McDaniels, he has worked to increase Arkansas’ leadership role among other states by accepting a chairmanship of the Southern Region of the National Association of Attorneys General.

"I’m proud of this chairmanship. It puts me on the executive committee, and I assure you, I am doing all I can to represent Arkansas well," he said.

McDaniels also commented on his offi ce’s plans for the coming months, including a measure in the legislative session regarding ethics among elected offi cials.

"It drew a lot of support from newspaper columnists, but the devil is always in the details. Y’all bought my lunch today, and I don’t think you committed a crime in buying my lunch, and I don’t think I committed a crime in letting you buy my lunch," McDaniels told the Rotarians.

"I think there are certain elements of common sense we have to remember and keep in our law. As we work on an ethics bill, there is a big difference in me having lunch with the Rotary Club and an elected offi cial who is not above going to the most expensive restaurant in Little Rock and calling a lobbyist (to pay for it). That’s not the way the system is supposed to work."

There is a way to address such situations without criminalizing elected officials for such offenses as having lunch with a Rotary Club, he said.

Another measure his office believes needs a "common sense approach" is a bill to make animal cruelty a felony, said McDaniels.

"That bill didn’t pass because there wasn’t a lot of common sense to it. There has to be a way to preserve (the state’s agricultural ties and outdoor sports) while still punishing someone who pours gasoline on a German Shepherd and sets it on fi re for the sheer cruelty of it. There is a dif ference in burning an animal and branding your cattle, and that’s what we want to estab lish. We’re working on putting some common sense into it,"

he said.

Before closing, McDaniels commended the success rate of Prosecuting Attorney Rob in Carroll, calling him "ex traordinarily good at what he does."

"The local level of law en forcement is where the rubber meets the road," McDaniels said. "If Sheriff Jones is doing his job, Robin can do his, and I can do mine. We are all dependent on each other."

McDaniels also had kind words for Arkansas Representative John Lowery, who was in attendance at the meeting, and said Lowery is "quite a leader."

Before adjourning, the Ro tary Club welcomed new members Alice Mahony and Michael Fitts. Three outstand ing El Dorado High School students, Taylor Evans, Kevin Roscoe and Claire Antoon, were also recognized.

The Rotary Club will next meet on Sept. 22. The guest speaker will be Jim McCall of the Arkansas Broadcasters Association.



Attorney General Dustin McDaniel addresses the El Dorado Rotary Club.

Looking for Employment?

The Union County Sheriffs Office is now accepting applications for Jail Officers and Dispatchers to fill vacancies in the Department. Applications will be accepted Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The State of Arkansas requires the following minimum criteria:

Every officer employed by a law enforcement unit shall:
a. Be a citizen of the United States.
b. Be at least 18 years of age.
c. Be free of felony record. A felony record shall mean having entered a plea of guilty, been found guilty, or otherwise having been convicted of an offense, the punishment for which could have been imprisonment in a federal penitentiary or a state penitentiary. The fact that an individual has received a pardon, or their record has been expunged shall not release the individual from having a felony record for the purposes of this regulation.
d. Be of good character as determined by a thorough background investigation.
e. Be a high school graduate or have passed the General Education Development (GED) Test indicating high school graduation level.
f. Be interviewed personally prior to employment by the Sheriff or his representative, or representatives, to determine such things as the applicant's motivation, appearance, demeanor, attitude and ability to communicate.
g. Possess a valid driver's license.

The application can be downloaded HERE it is 11 pages (1.5 meg please be patient with the download) and is the standard form required by the State. Applications can also be picked up and filled out at the Union County Sheriff's Office.
The Union County Sheriff's Office is a great place to work. In a Jailer or Dispatch capacity you will have every other 3-day weekend off (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!!)!! Good Luck and thanks for your interest!