2 arrests made at messy home

HOT SPRINGS — A Pearcy man and woman were arrested on felony charges Thursday after Garland County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call for a welfare check at a house that appeared to have been ransacked.

Kayla Jean Hinkle and Benjamin Trevor Sheets, both 23, were taken into custody shortly before 3 p.m. and each was charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver, two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to an affidavit, shortly after noon Thursday, an American Termite employee reported the front door of a house on North Pearcy Road was open and the house in disarray.

Two deputies who entered the house saw a substance, suspected to be marijuana, on a table and found six firearms in the house, according to the affidavit.

Lt. Joel Ware and Sgt. Josh Cannon obtained a search warrant. Shortly thereafter, the homeowners, identified as Sheets and Hinkle, also arrived, according to the affidavit.

Sheets told authorities that they would find only marijuana and guns inside the house, according to the affidavit. When asked why the home appeared ransacked, Sheets said, “one of the kids got sick and it just got out of hand,” according to the affidavit.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services took two children into custody.