Official: CEO’s arrest won’t stall opening of Marshals Museum

FORT SMITH — Progress toward opening the U.S. Marshals Museum won’t be held up by the recent arrest of its president and CEO, according to the chairman of the museum’s Board of Directors.

Doug Babb said Thursday that it would be inappropriate for the museum to comment on the ongoing investigation regarding Patrick Weeks.

Weeks, 53, of Fort Smith was arrested Tuesday on two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. He was released from the Sebastian County jail early Wednesday on a $6,000 bond.

Weeks did not respond to a cellphone message left for him Thursday morning requesting comment.

Babb said he could not comment on whether the board would take any action regarding Weeks’ employment, such as placing him on leave.

The criminal case, however, will not inhibit the process of designing and creating the experiences and exhibits that will be placed in the museum within a year, according to Babb.

“We expect to announce an opening date after the experience has been fabricated,” Babb said.

Babb also said he believes the U.S. Marshals Museum will continue to be successful in its fundraising regionally and nationally. The museum will communicate with present and prospective donors about how it will continue its progress.

The museum is at 789 Riverfront Drive along the Arkansas River. Construction on the main museum building, which consists of about 53,000 square feet, was completed in January 2020. The museum still needs to raise millions of dollars to pay for exhibits and educational programming before it can open.

Fort Smith voters rejected a proposal in March 2019 to levy a nine-month, 1% sales tax to fund the museum’s completion.

Two men told police Tuesday that they were repairing streetlights for Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. at 3205 S. 28th St. when Weeks refused to allow them into his yard to make repairs,

an arrest report states. The men reported that they were sitting in their truck when Weeks approached them with a pistol and pointed it at them, the filing says.

The men drove around the corner, but Weeks followed while pointing the pistol at them, according to the report.

They left the area and called police.

Officers arrived about 3 p.m. and contacted Weeks in his home, the report states. Weeks was sitting in a chair with a pistol on the armrest that matched the description the utility workers had given.

The museum hired Weeks in 2016. He previously served as head of the museum exhibit consulting firm Strategic Experience Solutions in Dublin, Ohio.