Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Youth Charged With High School Burglary

An altercation between two Prescott men led to one being taken to Medical Park Hospital after being cut with a knife Thursday, March 21.

According to Jim Westmoreland, criminal investigator for the Prescott Police Department and Nevada County Sheriff's Office, Ray Gulley, 29, and Sylvester Flemons, 42, both of Prescott, got into an altercation at McRae Park and 5th Street about 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

One thing led to another and Flemons allegedly pulled a knife and cut Gulley from below the left ear to the upper chest.

At the scene, Gulley told Westmoreland and PPD Sgt. Walt DeYoung Flemons was the one who cut him.

Gulley was then transported to Medical Park Hospital by the Nevada County Ambulance Service, where he was treated and released.

Flemons was arrested a short time after the incident, with no problems, by PPD officer Kristi Hillery and NCSO deputy Roy Frazier.

Flemons is being held in the Nevada County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and third degree battery.

Arkansas State Police Lt. Mike Fletcher, who works in the criminal investigation division with Troop G, developed a lead on an all-terrain vehicle stolen from Hill City, Minn. in late 1995, which led to the arrest of a Prescott man.

According to Westmoreland, Tom Whiting, 42, was arrested Monday, March 18, at Norman's 44 Truck Stop by investigators with the ASP.

The four-wheel ATV was found to be in Whiting's possession, and ASP officers also located a rifle which had been reported stolen from Minnesota as well, at a search of Whiting's residence in the Daniels Trailer Park.

Whiting was charged with theft by receiving and as a felon in possession of a firearm

He has been released on a $5,000 bond.

A 17-year-old Prescott youth went from a juvenile boot camp to the Nevada County Jail without passing go or collecting $200 Friday, March 22.

According to Westmoreland, Bobby Blalock, 17, of Prescott, has been charged with an adult in connection with the burglary and theft at Prescott High School.

The burglary and theft occurred Jan. 2, 1996 in the PHS principal's office and gymnasium, in which an undisclosed amount of cash was taken.

Blalock was in C-Step, a juvenile "boot camp-like" training school at Camp Robinson, where he had been sent for probation violation.

A warrant for his arrest in connection with the PHS burglary and theft had been issued several weeks ago, but authorities wanted to wait until he graduated the camp.

Blalock has been charged as an adult and is being held in the Nevada County Jail.

Nevada County Sheriff Harold Vines had applied with the Arkansas Crime Information Center Committee to get an ACIC computer terminal installed at the NCSO.

He said the application was turned in months ago, but the committee only meets two or three times a year. Vines met with the ACIC committee at 9 a.m. Friday, March 22.

Currently, when an officer makes a stop, they have to radio the office and the dispatcher has to place a long distance phone call to Hope (the nearest location with an ACIC terminal) for information on the person(s) in question.

The officer and person(s) stopped must then wait for Hope to run the information through its ACIC system, then call the NCSO back with the findings.

The dispatcher then radios the officer, who takes the appropriate action.

Vines said Nevada County is one of two counties in Arkansas without an ACIC terminal.

"We definitely need one," he said. "I hope we hear something soon."

The terminal will cost the NCSO and PPD about $180 per month to operate, depending on how much it is used.

However, most of this money can come from the savings in long distance telephone calls to Hope.

"It will be safer for the officer and faster for everyone involved," Vines said.