Warrant issued for woman accused of fighting preteen

A $5,000 bond was set and a bench warrant was issued Friday for an El Dorado woman who failed to appear in 35th Judicial District Court on a felony charge stemming from an alleged attack on a 12-year-old girl during a fight between the girl and the woman’s cousin.

Erykah R. Kenner, 21, was arrested Thursday for second-degree battery, a felony offense, after officers responded at 7:40 p.m. to a report of a fight at Haygood-Neal Garden Apartments in the 1300 block of West First Street.

The 12-year-old told officers that she and another female, no age given, got into an argument that escalated into a physical altercation.

She said Kenner “jumped in and started attacking her,” striking the girl with her fists.

The girl said her mother then intervened to stop the fight and as her mother pulled Kenner off her, Kenner struck the girl in the face with a cellphone.

Kenner told officers she “jumped into” the altercation to break it up and to help her cousin, with whom the 12-year-old girl was fighting.

Police said the other female who was involved in the fight had left the scene by the time they arrived.

The girl’s mother and other witnesses corroborated the girl’s statements.

Kenner was scheduled for a first appearance hearing Friday in district court.

Judge Jack Barker said she failed to show and he issued a bench warrant for her arrest and set a bond of $5,000, cash or corporate surety, which will be applied immediately upon her arrest.

In such instances, Barker said he considers several factors to recommend bond amounts, including the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure and criminal history, to help ensure that a defendant will make it to court.

A bench warrant was also issued Friday for one of two El Dorado women who was arrested for drug-related offenses during separate traffic stops Thursday.

Heather L. Ellis and Susan D. Miller-Hamaker, both 46, were arrested for possession of hydrocodone and possession of methamphetamine, respectively.

Barker said Ellis did not attend a first appearance hearing that had been scheduled for Friday and he subsequently issued a $10,000, cash or corporate surety bond and a bench warrant.

Ellis was a passenger inside a pickup truck that was stopped by El Dorado police at approximately 2:27 p.m. Thursday in the 1000 block of West Main.

Police said they conducted a traffic stop after noticing that the driver, Bobby Kooms, was not wearing a seatbelt.

They said Ellis had a search waiver on file with the Arkansas Department of Corrections: Division of Community Correction and during a search, they found half of a hydrocodone pill inside her purse.

Officers noted that Kooms had an active Union County Sheriff’s Office arrest warrant for failure to appear.

They said they advised him about the warrant without arrest after contacting the UCSO and learning that space was limited in the Union County jail because of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Miller-Hamaker was taken into custody by the El Dorado Police Department’s Criminal

Apprehension Division in the 1200 block of West Eighth Street.

Officers said they recovered a bag of crystal methamphetamine during a search.

Miller-Hamaker was also cited for driving on a suspended driver’s license and disregarding a traffic control device.

Also on Thursday, an employee of First Financial Bank told police that someone forged two checks, totaling $1,420, on a closed account.

The checks were reportedly stolen from a North Little Rock woman and the bank employee said the suspect made the checks out to himself to cash and forged the woman’s name on the checks.

A service fee of $7 was charged for each check, bringing the total amount of the forgeries to $1,434.

A potential suspect has been identified, according to a police report.