Clark County judge orders bond company to pay $100,000 bond for suspect who skipped town

By JOE MAY | The Southern Standard

In a ruling that hasn’t been issued in nearly 20 years, Clark County Circuit Judge Blake Batson signed an order requiring a bonding company to pay the $100,000 bond for a suspect who skipped town.

Christopher Elliott, then 37, was arrested on May 5, 2021, on Interstate 30 by Arkansas State Trooper Cpl. Tim Callison after the officer noticed him following too closely behind another vehicle. In speaking to the suspect, the trooper detected an odor of marijuana permeating from the vehicle and a subsequent search turned up several baggies of marijuana, a brick of cocaine, an ounce of fentanyl and a stolen Glock pistol loaded with 23 rounds. Additional baggies of marijuana were also located as were six cell phones and five bundles of US currency totaling $4,960, which was later forfeited as drug money.

Elliott was arrested for Trafficking a Controlled Substance and Simultaneous Possession of Drugs and Firearms, both of which are Class Y Felonies that could carry a sentence of 10-40 years or life in prison. In addition, he was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance with the Purpose to Deliver, a Class B Felony, Theft by Receiving, a Class D Felony, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a Class B Felony and Unauthorized Use of Another Person’s Property to Facilitate Certain Crimes, a Class B Felony.

Elliott contracted with First Arkansas Bail Bonds for his $100,000 bond and since that time, has failed to show up for court.

Prosecuting Attorney Dan Turner told the newspaper he was believed at one time to be in Las Vegas, Nevada. Turner said that the bonding company has tried without success to find the suspect. Any expenses incurred by the company to locate the suspect will be taken off of the bond amount owed to the county, Turner noted.

The prosecutor said the last time a bond was revoked was in the case of Wayne Poland, a doctor who had been charged with the rape of two children along with the victims’ mother. Poland, who was later recaptured and convicted, was arrested in 2003 and failed to appear in 2004. That bond also belonged to First Arkansas Bail Bonds, Turner stated.