This is a roundup of felony charges filed July 7-18, 2025, by the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office. Some defendants may also have misdemeanor charges against them, but most are not included here. The following names and charges, which are contained within public documents, are gathered from online court records available through ARCourts. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Here’s a rundown of felony cases filed in the past two weeks:
3 alleged drug traffickers stopped on I-30
You never know what could be coming down the interstate at any given time, as evidenced by three recent drug arrests in the local area over recent days.
In the first case, state police stopped a truck with New Mexico plates at the 57 mile marker for impeding traffic. After officers’ suspicions were aroused, a K-9 alerted to an issue with the vehicle and further inspection revealed four packages of cocaine and three packages of heroin that were only found after the front differential was removed.
The suspect, Gabriel Urbina of New Mexico, admitted he knew he was transporting drugs for money but said he did not know what drugs he was actually transporting. The cocaine weighed 4.74 pounds and the heroin weighed 4.6 pounds.
Urbina was charged with Trafficking Heroin and Trafficking Cocaine, both of which are Class Y felonies, carrying a potential sentence of 10-40 years or life in prison.
The next day, Trooper Erick Hoegh made a traffic stop at the 56 mile marker on a vehicle for failing to maintain its lane. he immediately noticed that both the driver and passenger seemed nervous, and the driver gave consent for him to search the car.
In the trunk of the vehicle, police found 13 boxes containing 156 bottles of Promethazine Hydrochloride. The driver, Latarash R. Davis, 48, of Memphis, Tennessee, interviewed at the Clark County Detention Center, said she went to Houston with a man named Alonzo, who had arranged to buy the drugs. She said that she drove the vehicle to a car wash in that city, where the drugs were loaded into the car. Davis is charged with Possession of Prohibited Stimulants or Depressants, which is a felony.
Her passenger, Derrick J. Wells Jr., 24, also of Memphis, claimed he knew nothing of the drugs but eventually admitted that he was in the car when they drove it to the Houston car wash, further denying knowledge of what had been loaded into the trunk. Wells is also charged with Possession of Prohibited Stimulants or Depressants.
The Southern Standard’s Joe May contributed to this portion of Felony Friday.
CLICK HERE to read more about the Promethazine arrest.
Arkadelphia felon arrested with guns, crack in I-30 traffic stop
On the night of June 23, 2025, a state trooper traveling eastbound on I-30 got behind a pickup traveling at a “very slow” 65 mph in a 75 mph zone. Observing the vehicle cross the white fog line, a traffic stop was made at the 65 mile marker.
The driver, 27-year-old Alexis Garcia, of Arkadelphia, appeared nervous as the trooper explained the reason for the stop. Passengers in the vehicle were identified as Garcia’s fiancee, his brother-in-law-to-be, and three juveniles. Garcia was asked to exit the vehicle and complied, saying they had gone to Houston, Texas, to pick up an engine and go to a party.
Garcia initially denied that there were any firearms in the vehicle, then changed his answer, saying his fiancee had one in the glove compartment. Consent to search the vehicle, however, was denied. The trooper again approached the vehicle, advising the brother-in-law that he would be removing the gun, a .45 semi-automatic pistol, for officer safety. Garcia was then detained, and a K-9 unit from the Prescott Police Department was summoned to the traffic stop. The two adult passengers were also detained.
The K9 alerted on the front passenger door, where a search netted a backpack, found in the rear passenger seat and containing 16 bottles of THC wax and multiple bags containing methamphetamine and cocaine. Behind the passenger seat was a bottle containing 13 Alprazolam pills. At that point all passengers were transported from the scene.
Garcia ultimately admitted ownership of all the contraband found in the vehicle.
The three bags of cocaine weighed 51 grams. A portion of the cocaine field-tested positive for free-base crack. One bag of the crack weighed 3.5 grams. Six bags of meth weighed 22 grams. The THC wax weighed 1,905 grams.
Later in the investigation, Garcia’s fiancee gave authorities consent to search their Eagle Drive residence, where they located two scoped rifles.
Following Garcia’s arrest, a $95,000 bond was set at a first court appearance.
Garcia faces multiple drug-related charges, including two Class A counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance with Purpose to Deliver, each of which carry a prison sentence of 6-30 years and/or a fine of up to $15,000; Simultaneous Possession of Drugs and Firearms, punishable by 10-40 years or life in prison; Possession of Firearms by a Certain Person, a Class B felony punishable by 5-20 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $15,000; and a pair of Class D felonies for Possession of a Schedule VI Controlled Substance with Purpose to Deliver, punishable by up to 6 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
Drug charges filed for unconscious man found lying in middle of highway
At about 11 p.m. April 12, a state trooper was called to the East Clark County community of Manchester, where a person was lying in the middle of Arkansas Highway 128 near its junction with Lane Road.
Upon the trooper’s arrival he observed a Chevrolet pickup west of the roadway resting against a barbed wire fence, then saw 47-year-old Benjamin Michael Gardner, of Arkadelphia, lying on his back about 200 feet from the stalled vehicle.
According to a police affidavit, Gardner at first appeared unconscious; a sternum rub woke him, though he was lethargic and unaware as to why he was in the middle of a state highway. The trooper smelled intoxicants emitting from Gardner, whose lethargy forced a failed attempt at a field sobriety test. Gardner was offered to wait in the trooper’s front passenger seat until paramedics arrived.
Paramedics checked Gardner’s vital signs and deemed his condition to be normal.
The trooper read Gardner his rights and requested a blood sample, which Gardner refused, consenting instead to a urine sample.
While waiting for a tow truck to haul Gardner’s vehicle away, a pair of troopers found a plastic box on the center floorboard containing marijuana and methamphetamine weighing 5.59 grams and 2 grams, respectively.
While in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, Gardner provided a urine sample, although the police affidavit does not indicate what those results were.
Gardner’s bond was initially set at $75,000 during a first court appearance, although it would be lowered to $15,000 at the request of attorney Bill James. A separate court filing indicates that James was later relieved from the case.
Gardner is charged with Possession of Methamphetamine, in this case a Class C felony punishable by 3-10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
Wedding ring dispute leads police to find pill bottle meth pipe
On the morning of July 8, 2025, Clark County sheriff’s deputies were summoned to a home on Garner Mountain Road, Amity, for a dispute over a wedding ring.
One of the parties involved, 46-year-old Seth Allen Howell, had a search waiver on file and were granted permission to search the residence. A search of a bathroom yielded a “large pill bottle that had been altered with a metal straw protruding from the top and a glass pipe protruding from the bottom,” according to a police affidavit. The pill bottle contained suspected methamphetamine that was handed over to Group 6 Narcotics for testing. The substance, which field-tested positive for methamphetamine, weighed 0.5 grams.
Howell was arrested, and a $45,000 bond was set during a first appearance.
Howell is being charged as a habitual offender for Possession of Methamphetamine, a Class D felony that carries a prison term of up to 15 years.
Cocaine, pot found in Arkadelphia traffic stop
An Arkadelphia man was arrested on the night of July 9, 2025, following a traffic stop at 6th and Caddo streets.
An Arkadelphia patrolman noticed a passenger side headlight was out on a Mitsubishi Highlander driven by Keilan Jamar Robinson. During the traffic stop that followed, the officer saw ashes atop drink cans in the console cup holder and a partially smoked blunt in the passenger seat, and noted that Robinson, 44, exhibited signs of being under the influence.
During the traffic stop, Robinson admitted to being in possession of about 7 grams of marijuana, as well as cocaine concealed in a cigarette package under the front seat. Police found both items, and a digital scale, in the vehicle.
Robinson was taken into custody, and a $10,000 bond was set at his first court appearance.
He is charged with Possession of Cocaine, a Class D felony punishable by up to 6 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
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