Two arrested by DTF
An alleged parole absconder being sought on numerous warrants was arrested at his residence Wednesday afternoon along with a Hot Springs woman on multiple felony charges after a gun and drugs were reportedly found.
Brian Peter Murphy, 45, of
144 Odis Trail, and Regina
Beth Ballew, 30, who lists a Marion Anderson
Road address, were both taken into custody shortly after 3 p.m. at Murphy’s
residence and charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, punishable by up to life in prison, possession of meth with purpose to deliver, punishable by up to 30 years, unauthorized use of another person’s property to facilitate a crime, punishable by up to 20 years, and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Murphy was also charged with possession of a firearm by certain persons and possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver, each punishable by up to 20 years, based on items found Wednesday. He also had felony warrants for three counts of delivery of meth and three counts of unlawful use of a communication device and one count of theft by receiving of a credit card.
Both Murphy and Ballew were being held on zero bond and are set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, investigators with the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force executed the arrest warrants for Murphy at his residence on Odis Trail, which is located off the 1900 block of Walnut Valley Road, and made contact with Murphy and Ballew and took Murphy into custody without incident.
It was noted Murphy is a parolee with an active search waiver on file and currently in absconder status with Arkansas Community Correction. Investigators searched the residence and discovered a plastic bag with 13.6 grams of what later tested positive for meth and a set of digital scales in plain view on a table by the bed.
Ballew was taken into custody at that point, the affidavit states. A second bag of meth, about 8 grams, was found along with a total of 3.2 grams of marijuana, four oxycodone pills and a loaded 22LR revolver. The gun was found in a locked safe Murphy had the key to and the pills were found in a metal container attached to Murphy’s keychain.
A second set of digital scales, two loaded syringes, numerous empty syringes and baggies, four smoking pipes and a metal spoon with meth residue were also found.
According to the affidavits on the warrants for delivery of meth and unlawful use of a communication device, between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31, 2018, a DTF agent and Arkansas State Police special agent conducted three controlled buys of meth from Murphy in Garland County.
A cellphone was used to arrange all three buys between Murphy and a confidential informant and the amount purchased each time was reportedly more than 2 grams but less than 10 grams.