Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Homes Raided

Coordinated efforts between the Clark and Pike county sheriff's offices have resulted in several arrests.

According to information from the CCSO, Sheriff Troy Tucker and deputies from the two agencies executed a search warrant, Jan. 3, 1998, on a house just north of Amity.

But, before the warrant was issued and raid occurred, officers had already seized several pieces of evidence related to the manufacture and distribution of marijuana, along with a quantity of the illegal drug.

David Ray Phillips, 36, of Amity, was arrested and charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. This is a class C felony, punishable by a term of 3 to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

This arrest, however, was part of an ongoing investigation conducted by several law enforcement agencies into related offenses in the Amity and north Clark County region.

As part of the long-term probe, three people were arrested in connection with three residential burglaries, one commercial burglary and three offenses of breaking or entering in the Amity area.

On Dec. 17, 1997, deputies worked information on a suspect in a burglary which occurred around Dec. 1. In this burglary a firearm had been stolen.

The investigation led to a Bismarck residence, where officers with the Hot Spring County Sheriff's Office, executing a search warrant, found several stolen items, including the weapon, along with a quantity of drugs, mainly marijuana and methamphetamine.

The HCSO arrested 10 people in its raid.

While the HCSO was making its arrests in Bismarck, Tucker and deputies with the CCSO were raiding a house near Alpine.

In the CCSO search, one man was arrested after deputies found a videocassette recorder reported stolen from the Amity Elementary School around Nov. 20, 1997.

Also, on Dec. 19, deputies with the CCSO arrested a suspect found with several pieces of stolen jewelry on their person. The jewelry had been stolen from an Amity home earlier that day.

The suspect's home was searched on Dec. 23, with officers finding more pieces of jewelry from the Dec. 19 burglary, along with jewelry taken during a Dec. 17 burglary.

Other pieces of jewelry taken in the Dec. 17 burglary were recovered at the Bismarck house when it was raided on Dec. 19.

Dec. 20 found the CCSO in possession of a stolen cassette tape player/radio recovered from a DeGray residence.

The radio had been stolen subsequent to the breaking or entering and vandalism of logging equipment near the Piney community between Dec. 13 and 15.

Those arrested by the CCSO were Richard Troxel, 27, of Amity, Tracy Cranford, 27, also of Amity, and Troy Rogers, 22, of Arkadelphia.

Troxel was charged with one count of residential burglary, a class B felony carrying a sentence of 5-20 years, one count of theft of property, a class C felony, with a sentence of 3-10 years; and one count of theft by receiving, a class A misdemeanor, which has a sentence of a year's imprisonment.

Cranford was charged with one count of theft by receiving, while Rogers was charged with a count of theft by receiving as well.

Cranford and Rogers have been released, while Troxel is being held in the Clark County Detention Center. Troxel's incarceration includes the violation of his parole.