Police tie ongoing child custody case to use of crime database

LITTLE ROCK — A Little Rock police officer relieved of duty in January and charged with multiple felony counts last week used a state database to access information about the father of her child and other people involved in an ongoing child custody case, an affidavit states.

Officer Elizabeth Roberson, 34, used the Arkansas Criminal Information Center database on at least four separate dates in 2021 and 2023 to access the personal information of Khyle Thomas, whom she had a child with in 2014; Thomas’ wife; and a third woman Roberson knew who was listed as a witness in a child support case, the affidavit written by Little Rock police Sgt. Bryan Brown states.

Each time, Roberson recorded her reason for accessing the database as for law enforcement purposes, even though she was not scheduled to be working on one of the dates she used the database, the affidavit states.

Authorities with the FBI in October alerted a Little Rock officer working on a federal task force about Roberson’s use of the database, and that officer gathered evidence in the case before passing it to Brown, the affidavit says.

Thomas’ wife, Esmeralda, told investigators she called Roberson, whom she got along with, and asked her to check whether she had outstanding warrants, the affidavit states. The third woman, Courtney Paschal, whose child went to the same school as Roberson’s, similarly told police she called Roberson and asked her to check for any tickets on Paschal’s record.

Roberson told investigators that Khyle Thomas asked her to check his record for warrants, but he denied that when questioned by investigators and told them he felt that his rights and privacy had been violated by Roberson’s actions, the affidavit states.

Roberson now faces three felony counts of accessing a criminal history without authorization for financial gain and two misdemeanor counts of accessing a criminal history without authorization, court records show.

In 2021, when Roberson accessed Khyle and Esmeralda’s information, she was working in the department’s street crimes unit, the affidavit states. In 2023, when she accessed Paschal’s information, Roberson was a school resource officer, the affidavit says.

Khyle Thomas is listed as a defendant and witness in a child support lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court on April 7, 2017, the affidavit states. Roberson is listed as the assignor in the suit, while the Arkansas Office of Child Support Enforcement is the listed plaintiff.

Esmeralda Thomas and Paschal are both listed as witnesses in the suit, the affidavit states.

That case was closed on Aug. 27, 2019, after a joint custody order was issued in April 2018, the affidavit states. Roberson’s attorney filed to reopen the case on Jan. 11, 2023, with Roberson seeking full custody of the child, court records show.

On Oct. 17, 2023, Judge Amy Johnson granted Khyle

Thomas full emergency custody over the child, court records show. A therapist testified that Roberson had continuously worked “to manipulate and alienate Mr. Thomas,” the order states.

Khyle Thomas has had full custody of the child since then, with Roberson allowed supervised or digital visitation, records show. The custody case remained open Friday.

In the complaint that reopened the case, Roberson’s attorney wrote that Roberson did not know Khyle Thomas’ Texas address, had not been introduced to his wife and that her child was uncomfortable visiting Khyle Thomas in Texas, court documents show.

In an interview with detectives, Roberson said she accessed Khyle Thomas’ information around the time the court case reopened, looking for his Texas address, the affidavit states. That statement does not match up with the database access dates given in the affidavit.

Detectives asked Roberson if her access had to do with the court case, and she answered “mm-mm, just so I would know,” the affidavit states.

Roberson accessed Khyle Thomas’ personal information, driver’s history and vehicle records in March, July and November of 2021, the affidavit states. She accessed Esmeralda Thomas’ information on the same day in March 2021 and Paschal’s data in June 2023, about three months before the FBI notified Little Rock police of her suspicious actions.

Roberson has been with the department since 2018, a police news release states.