This is a roundup of felony charges filed Aug. 22 through Sept. 4, 2026, 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:
Mother of 3 left young children home alone
A Caddo Valley mother is facing serious charges for leaving her young children unattended and locked inside their residence for hours.
About an hour after dusk on Aug. 28, a Caddo Valley officer was called out to a Frost Road apartment complex for a report that three juveniles had been left without any adult supervision. Upon arrival at the residence the officer located the children, ages 1-6, with no adult on the premises. Further investigation revealed that the children’s mother, 22-year-old Lashiya Ladasha Ellis, had gone to work that morning after the eldest child got onto the school bus, leaving the two younger children locked inside the apartment.
Making contact with Ellis, she admitted to leaving the juveniles unattended, saying that a neighbor, whose name she did not know, was supposed to look in on them. Police made contact with said neighbor, a registered sex offender who denied agreeing to watch after the children.
Ellis is charged with three counts of 1st-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Minor, each a Class D felony that carries a potential prison sentence of up to 6 years and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
Ellis was served with an arrest warrant on Aug. 30. Bond was set at $7,500 at a first court appearance on Aug. 31.
Trafficker with kilo of cocaine arrested on I-30
An alleged drug trafficker was unable to outsmart an Arkansas state trooper who pointed out a flaw in his route.
On the afternoon of July 22, Trooper Jackson Daniell was patrolling Interstate 30 when he observed an eastbound passenger vehicle whose driver was not wearing a seat belt, and a traffic stop was conducted at the 64 mile-marker near the Gurdon exit.
The driver, 20-year-old Justin Adrian Rosas, of Sun Valley, California, said he was traveling from his home in the suburbs of Los Angeles to visit family in Nashville, Tennessee. A skeptical Daniell probed further, asking Rosas why he had traveled through Amarillo to Dallas instead of staying on Interstate 40, which would have been the logical route, but got no “reasonable explanation” for the route Rosas chose.
Asked if it was OK to search the vehicle, Rosas at first denied consent, then allowed a search and admitted to a small a mount of marijuana being in the vehicle. The probable cause search revealed 1 kilogram of cocaine in the trunk. The substance was field-tested and showed positive reaction for cocaine and fentanyl.
A kilogram is a massive amount of cocaine, intended far beyond personal use and handled by high-level traffickers and major distributors, according to Real Recovery Solutions. The cost of a kilogram of cocaine typically costs between $13,000 and $30,000 wholesale.
Rosas was arrested and transported to the Clark County Detention Center, where he later admitted to police that he was transporting narcotics.
Bond was set at $100,000 during a first court appearance on July 24.
Rosas is charged with Trafficking a Controlled Substance, an unclassified felony punishable by 25-60 years or life in prison and/or a fine of up to $1 million.
4 arrested for burglarizing newspaperman’s abode
Four people from Malvern stand accused of breaking into a newspaperman’s residence and stealing a bucket of change.
The accused are named as Maggie Luann Daniels, 30; James Chase Daniels, 38; Virginia Ann Burnett, 65; and Toni Reynolds, 60.
On July 27, Clark County deputies were called to the Amity property of The Southern Standard publisher Joe May for a complaint of four trespassers. A third party told deputies that one of the suspects was seen carrying a bucket of change, and that two of them had fled when confronted and 911 was contacted.
Deputies arrived, taking two of the suspects into custody and searching for the other two. During the initial investigation deputies located the bucket of change, which they learned had been stolen from the May residence. Also located in a suspect vehicle was 3 grams of methamphetamine.
During police questioning, the Danielses both admitted to entering the residence to steal items, which is what they said they do for extra income. They told police they called Reynolds and Burnett to assist in gathering items and hauling them away in their vehicle.
All four are charged with Residential Burglary, a Class B felony. Burnett and Reynolds both face an additional charge of Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance for the meth found in the vehicle they arrived in.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence enhancement for Maggie Daniels and Toni Reynolds given their status as habitual offenders. Maggie Daniels’s bond was set at $80,000 during a first court appearance. Reynolds’s bond was set at $75,000. Chase Daniels’s bond was set at $60,000. Burnett’s bond was set at $45,000.
Complaint of drug activity prompts arrest of 2
In the Mt. Zion community west of Arkadelphia, drug task force agents on July 27 accompanied Department of Human Services caseworkers to a residence after hearing complaints that a child was living at a home where drug activity was suspected.
With a search waiver on file for the residence, the agents made contact with both adults of the home, Faith Addison Bunn Hopkins, 23, and Simon Hernandez, and were directed to a bathroom cabinet holding 1.6 grams of methamphetamine. Other paraphernalia was also located. Police observed “multiple items” of drug paraphernalia and a firearm in plain view that a child “could have easily grabbed.”
According to the affidavit, Hernandez ignored officers when he was told he was going to jail, interacting instead with his cell phone. He was told thrice to put the phone away before a struggle over the device led to a brief scuffle. Hernandez was tasered as a result, then arrested and transported to the county jail. Hopkins surrendered peacefully.
At the jail, Hernandez provided a statement saying the narcotics didn’t belong to him. Hopkins admitted the drugs belonged to both of them. To date, Hernandez has not been formally charged. Hopkins faces the lone charge of Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance, a Class D felony.
Jason Barrett has been appointed by the court as special prosecutor for the case.
Bond was set at $10,000 during a first court appearance on July 29.
Man with drugs in shoe almost walked away a free man
Danny Lamar Smith is a wanted man in the eastern Arkansas town of De Witt, but police there aren’t driving 100 miles to pick him up.
Smith, who lists an Arkadelphia address, was the target of a routine traffic stop on the morning of Aug. 25 when an APD officer observed an unflagged ladder extending too far from the tailgate of his pickup truck. The 54-year-old was pulled over on Evonshire Drive, and handcuffed when the officer learned Smith had warrants from the De Witt Police Department.
When DPD denied extradition, the Arkadelphia officer began removing the handcuffs from Smith’s wrist when he noticed below a “suspicious white bulge” in his shoe. Asked what was in his shoe, Smith pulled out two bags and tossed them to the ground. One contained methamphetamine, and the other marijuana. Drug paraphernalia was also located on his person as well as in the vehicle. Smith was then put back into handcuffs and hauled off to the county jail.
The meth weighed in at 1.83 grams.
Smith is charged with Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia to Ingest, Inhale, Etc., both Class D felonies. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence enhancement given Smith’s status as a habitual offender.
Bond was set at $10,000 during a first court appearance held on Aug. 26.
Stolen U-Haul too tall for Sonic Drive-In
This is not how we Sonic. On the evening of Aug. 6, APD responded to Sonic Drive-In for a private property accident involving a U-Haul truck that damaged the eatery’s awning.
Investigating the accident, police learned that the truck was reported stolen out of Nashville, and that the driver, 44-year-old Holly G. Collins, of Nashville, was wanted by the Howard County Sheriff’s Office. Collins was handcuffed and arrested, and a search of her person revealed 0.96 grams of methamphetamine in her shorts pocket. Paraphernalia was additionally located on her person while she was being booked into the county jail.
Collins is charged with Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia to Ingest, Inhale, Etc., each a Class D felony with the prosecutor’s enhanced sentence request given her status as a habitual offender.
Bond was set at $15,000 during a first court appearance held Aug. 7.
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