By The Arkadelphian
A registered sex offender faces new criminal charges in Clark County following an investigation that he raped children.
Barry Alan Walker, of Glenwood, was arrested Friday and being held at the Clark County Detention Center on six police charges of rape involving a minor. On Tuesday, June 21, Clark County Sheriff Jason Watson announced in a press release that his department is continuing to investigate the matter.
Walker, 58, was a physician until his 1999 arrest in Fort Smith for sexual misconduct with an 8-year-old, according to court records filed in Sebastian County. That charge and its subsequent conviction led to a suspension of his license to practice medicine, as well as a discharge from the military.
Court records indicate that Walker had been a family physician who practiced in both Missouri and Arkansas.
Walker was sentenced to five months in prison for those charges and was ordered to register as a Level 1 sex offender. The case was adjudicated in 2000 — Walker was incarcerated for five years — and the case file lay dormant for 18 years, when in 2021 his attorney, Janna Bradford, petitioned to have Walker removed from the sex offender registry. Obituary records indicate that Bradford, the newly elected prosecuting attorney in Pike County, is Walker’s niece. Walker would later retain the services of Malvern attorney Louis Loyd.
The court did grant a re-assessment for Walker, but no records indicate whether the petition to be de-listed was granted. The paper trail ends in a 2021 letter from the court to the state and defense advising of an October hearing.
Walker is listed as a Level 2 “Moderate Risk” sex offender in the Arkansas Crime Information Center offender registry.
Formal arraignment on the new charges will be scheduled pending the filing of formal charges by Clark County Prosecutor Dan Turner. Walker is presently being held in custody in the Clark County Jail pending first appearance in Clark County Circuit Court at which time bond will be set and future court appearances scheduled.