By Joel Phelps
The Arkadelphian

A Texas woman allegedly trafficking drugs learned the hard way not to tailgate her fellow motorists.

Barbara Spann, 62, of Haltom City, Texas, faces felony charges in Clark County after an Oct. 2 traffic stop by Arkansas State Police. Aside from a felony drug charge, authorities seized nearly $70,000 during the stop, according to new details that have emerged regarding the case.

Cpl. Tim Callison was westbound on Interstate 30 near the 74 mile-marker when he saw a black Ford F-250 pickup traveling “dangerously close” to the vehicle in front of it, prompting him to conduct a stop.

Spann, the driver of the tailgating vehicle, gave Callison different accounts as to why she was in Arkansas, according to court documents filed this week. Her stories ranged from having visited with her sister in Hot Springs and losing all her money to returning home from Little Rock with what little money she had collected from her monthly $800 Social Security check.

Callison ran Spann’s license plate through the National Crime Information Center to learn a license plate reader tapped Spann’s movements along the interstate in Collin County, Texas, capturing the vehicle three times between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1. The NCIC check also revealed that Spann had a history of theft arrests.

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Asked about what clothes she had packed for her trip, Spann produced a duffel bag containing a shoe box. She reportedly opened the box for Callison, revealing a large amount of cash banded in a fashion “similar to that of money used in the sale of narcotics,” the affidavit notes.

Spann ultimately admitted to Callison that she was in possession of 360 hydrocodone pills. A search of the vehicle yielded two cell phones and three bottles containing the pills. Spann, along with the cash and suspected narcotics, was transported to the Caddo Valley Police Department where a police K-9 unit alerted on the package containing the money.

Spann was then arrested and transported to the Clark County Detention Center. She has since posted bond.

She faces one count of possession of a schedule II substance with purpose to deliver.