Parolee arrested with allegedly stolen bank cards, forging device
A parolee was arrested on felony warrants Friday stemming from a traffic stop last month where she was allegedly in possession of an apparent check forging device and several bank and ID cards in the names of other individuals.
Crystal Megan Huckaby, 37, who lists a McKay Street address, was taken into custody shortly before 12:30 p.m. and charged with criminal possession of a forgery device, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and theft by receiving over $1,000, punishable by up to six years.
Huckaby was later released on a $6,000 bond and is set to appear on Feb. 28 in Garland County District Court.
According to court records, she was convicted on May 19, 2020, of two counts of delivery of heroin, possession of meth with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but later paroled. She was arrested on June 13, 2022, on multiple felony drug-related charges and released on July 1 on a $150,000 bond. She pleaded not guilty to the charges on July 20 and is set for a disposition hearing in Garland County Circuit Court on March 1.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Jan. 7, around
7:30 p.m., Hot Springs police made a traffic stop on an unlicensed white
2001 Buick LeSabre at the intersection of Richard Street and Albert Pike Road.
Officers made contact with the driver and sole occupant, identified as Huckaby, and a computer check showed her to be on active probation with a search waiver on file, so a search of her vehicle was conducted.
Officers allegedly found a purse containing several Social Security cards, debit-credit cards, and Arkansas IDs in the names of other individuals. Inside a backpack, officers allegedly found a notepad with other individuals’ personal banking and ID information written on it.
They also reportedly found two laptop computers and several paper printed checks without names. A white printer was next to the backpack and inside it was a paper printed check with “no information on the paper.”
There was another piece of
paper reportedly found in the floorboard with “banking information of several other individuals.” The officers documented the items by taking photos and body camera footage and Huckaby was eventually released from the scene.
Detective Matthew Cheatham later reviewed the photos and camera footage and noted the checks found were “very professional looking” and included the reflective stickers and proper borders. The checks displayed no information and appeared to have been left blank “to print on at a later time.”
He also noted the checks found were “remarkably similar” to some used in recent forgery cases where they were printed with various victims’ information. All the victims denied issuing any of the checks.
“Based on all the items located in the vehicle, there is cause to believe that the printer and checks are being used for forgery,” Cheatham said in the affidavit.
He also noted a cash app card and credit card in the name of a man who had previously reported his vehicle and bank cards stolen. Cheatham called the man and he stated he did not allow anyone to use these cards and “in fact never had that cash app card or the credit card.”
The victim said they “must have been made in his name without his consent” and that since the thefts “people had been using his information to open accounts and make cards.”
Huckaby reportedly admitted to the officers at the traffic stop that the items were in her possession and claimed she once worked in elder care and “that is why she had them.” Cheatham noted that of the items located, none appeared to be from “elders” including the man he contacted “who has never been to one of those facilities nor had home care.”
After further investigation, warrants for Huckaby’s arrest were issued on Jan. 23.