Parolee arrested on felony drug charges after rolling disturbance
A local parolee was arrested on felony drug charges Friday after an alleged “rolling disturbance” where he was reportedly following another vehicle his ex-girlfriend was a passenger in.
Codey James Meeks, 25, who lists a Poplar Road address, was taken into custody shortly after 2:30 p.m. and charged with felony counts of possession of a controlled substance, meth, and possession of drug paraphernalia, each punishable by up to six years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of harassment, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Meeks was later released on a $6,000 bond and is set to appear on April 25 in Garland County District Court.
According to court records, Meeks was convicted in 2019 of possession of a controlled substance, meth, and possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to four years’ supervised probation. He was convicted again on March 21, 2022, of two counts of aggravated assault, fleeing in a vehicle and possession of meth and sentenced to four years in prison, but later paroled.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Clifford Rushing saw a black van being followed by a purple Nissan pickup truck traveling south in the 600 block of Malvern Avenue with the van apparently headed to the HSPD at 641 Malvern.
As Rushing passed, headed in the opposite direction, the driver of the van honked her horn several times to get his attention. At the same time, a dispatcher notified officers of a “rolling disturbance” where the passenger of a black van had called to report she was being followed by a known suspect in a purple truck.
Officers met both vehicles as they rounded the block and pulled into the parking lot at the HSPD. The driver of the truck was identified as Meeks and police spoke to the female driver and female passenger in the van.
The passenger stated Meeks is the father of two of her children and had followed them from a preschool after she picked up her children. She said the female driver made several turns and “even slowed on a yellow light to catch Meeks at the red light” to force him to stop, but he drove erratically following them, running at least one red light.
She said he “caused them to be alarmed and concerned” that he might intentionally run into their van.
Officers spoke to Meeks, who reportedly admitted he had followed the van, which he knew to belong to his ex-girlfriend, because “he wanted to see his children” and she had refused to answer her phone when he tried to call her.
Meeks was taken into custody at that point for harassment and during an inventory search of his truck, officers allegedly found a black case containing a glass pipe, a syringe and a small plastic baggie of what later tested positive for meth, resulting in the additional felony charges.