Man gets 3 life sentences in kidnapping and rape trial

Authorities nabbed Sylvester after chase in Sevier County

A man convicted of kidnapping a woman from a parking lot in Fort Smith, Ark., and raping last summer her was given to three life sentences in prison Monday.

Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Fitzhugh followed the recommendation of a Sebastian County Circuit Court jury and sentenced Ardwin Frank Sylvester, 37, to three life sentences for rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery and $15,000 in fines, according to reports from the Southwest Times Record.

In mid-April, a jury gave Sylvester a 40-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm to run consecutively to 20 years added after he pleaded no contest in January to a petition to revoke his suspended sentence on a 2000 rape charge. The petition was filed in July 2014 after rape, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and being a felon in possession of a

firearm charges were filed.

A 911 call was made about 11 a.m. June 24, 2014, by a manager at Staples, 5711 Rogers Ave. in Forth Smith, about a man who forced a woman into a vehicle, possibly at gunpoint.

The man, later identified as Sylvester, drove to U.S. Highway 71 South, and as they traveled south, he sexually assaulted her, according to the woman’s statement. During an interview with Arkansas State Police Special Agent Hays McWhirter, the woman said the man had forced her at gunpoint to get into the car and used the pistol to threaten her during the rape.

They continued to Ashdown, Ark., where they stopped to get gas.

Sylvester, who had already taken the woman’s cash, took her cellphone and keys, went into Ashdown E-Z Mart and returned to pump gas. When a truck pulled up on the passenger side of the vehicle, she jumped out of her vehicle and ran inside the store.

Videos show Sylvester waving the pump hose and spilling gas on himself.

The store clerk, Breanna Sessions, and two male customers hid the woman behind the store counter.

Sylvester fled in the woman’s Ford Escape and was taken into custody on state Highway 27, halfway between Ben Lomond and Mineral Springs just east of U.S. 71 in Sevier County, Ark., after being pursued by Arkansas State Police and other agencies.

During the chase, Sylvester tossed a pistol into the ditch.

On state Highway 27, Sylvester stopped the SUV, got out and laid down on the pavement with his arms spread out to surrender to officers.

“He stopped in the middle of the road. He showed us his hands and got out of the car and laid down on the pavement,” said Investigator Robert Gentry, Sevier County Sheriff’s Department.

“We went over and cuffed and stuffed him,” Gentry said.

McWhirter and Little River County Sheriff Gary Gregory found the gun on the side of the road. The discovery of the gun added 40 years to the man’s sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Sylvester was held by the Arkansas Department of Corrections at the Randal L. Williams Correctional Facility in Pine Bluff. According to records, his history includes serving time for theft, commercial burglary, breaking and entering and rape. He has tattoos that include a swastika with lightning bolts, “Game” and “Over” on his eyelids, “white trash” and the anarchy symbol, according to the Southwest Times Record news report.