Royal woman arrested in drug case

Deputy reports homemade explosive among items in car

HOT SPRINGS — A Royal woman on parole was arrested on multiple charges after a traffic stop early Saturday revealed illegal drugs and a homemade explosive device in her vehicle, according to court documents.

Crystal Lyn Bearden, 39, was taken into custody shortly before 1:30 a.m. and charged with possession of meth with purpose to deliver, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, three counts of possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver, and five counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Bearden also was charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia and was cited for improper headlights and fictitious tags.

She was convicted of a felony count of robbery in 2016 and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Garland County sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Kellar saw a Honda Accord traveling in the dark with its headlights off.

A check of the license plate returned to a different vehicle, so he stopped the Accord and spoke with the driver, identified as Bearden, the affidavit said. She stated that she had taken the license plate off another vehicle that she owned.

During their conversation, Kellar noted that Bearden was “extremely nervous” and avoided eye contact. Her male passenger, 45, was holding his hand and complaining of pain because of an injury he had suffered earlier that day, the affidavit said. He said he had bumped it again and they were en route to the hospital to have it examined, but he declined to have an ambulance called.

A computer check revealed Bearden’s parole status, which included a search waiver on file, so Kellar asked her if there was anything illegal in the car. She stated that there was “definitely not” anything on her person.

Kellar ran his K-9 partner around the vehicle three times and the dog alerted on the driver’s side and passenger front each time.

A search of the vehicle revealed 3.1 grams of psychedelic mushrooms, 17.9 grams of meth in multiple baggies, three syringes loaded with liquid meth, three Clonazepam pills, one Diazepam pill, 13 Tramadol pills, two meth pipes with residue, two digital scales with meth residue, smoking devices with marijuana residue, $129 in cash, a baggie of white powder that was not identified and “a multitude” of other drug paraphernalia items.

Also located was a 12-gauge shotgun shell with a portion of cork glued to the primer with a 2-inch roofing nail pushed through the cork which appeared to be “an improvised explosive device,” according to the affidavit.

The components of the device were collected as evidence. The passenger was not charged and was released.