Car trouble results in drug, firearms arrest
A local felon sought on multiple warrants, including assault charges involving his girlfriend, was arrested Saturday morning after being found with drugs and a gun prompting the area drug task force to take over the investigation.
Mason Hunter Sexton, 30, who lists a Cedar Creek Road address, was taken into custody shortly before 9:30 a.m. and charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, punishable by up to life in prison, possession of a firearm by certain persons and unauthorized use of another person’s property to facilitate a crime, each punishable by up to 20 years, possession of meth with purpose to deliver and possession of a controlled substance, hydrocodone, with purpose to deliver, each punishable by up to 10 years, and possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia, each punishable by up to six years.
Sexton also had felony warrants for two counts of violation of an order of protection, aggravated assault, aggravated assault of a family or household member and first-degree terroristic threatening and misdemeanor counts of second-degree criminal mischief and fleeing on foot.
Sexton was being held on a $100,000 bond and was set to appear Monday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit on Saturday’s arrest, Arkansas State Police Trooper Dylan Robbins was westbound on the King Expressway just east of Carpenter Dam when he saw a red
SUV on the shoulder of the road that he initially thought was abandoned.
He pulled up next to it and the driver, later identified as Sexton, rolled down the window and told him he was having car trouble. R obbins pulled in behind the SUV and ran a computer check on the tags which showed them to be fictitious. He checked Sexton’s driver’s license and discovered the multiple warrants for Sexton’s arrest and took him into custody.
ASP Sgt. Jorge Oseguera arrived to assist and was looking in the SUV for vehicle paperwork when he reportedly saw what looked like illegal drugs in the center console. Robbins began a search of the vehicle and located a bag of what later tested positive for meth, 20.9 grams, a bag with 19.7 grams of marijuana, digital scales, a grinder, and three bottles of pills, later determined to be hydrocodone, Tylenol and Ibuprofen.
Robbins also found two loaded pistol magazines in the center console along with 14 live 9-mm rounds. He noted the “cup holders looked like they had been moved and not put properly in place.” He pulled them out and located a loaded 9-mm pistol in a hidden compartment.
Sexton reportedly had $805 in his wallet in his back pocket and another wallet with $31 was found in the console.
When questioned, Sexton claimed the gun belonged to his mother. A computer check showed Sexton was convicted of a felony count of theft of property in 2015 in Hot Spring County. Sexton reportedly told Robbins he has 13 prior felony convictions. It was also determined the SUV Sexton was driving is owned by a Georgia man.
Investigators with the 18th
Judicial District East Drug Task Force were notified and responded to the detention center to take over the investigation, the affidavit states, seizing the money and evidence.
According to an order of protection issued Feb. 11 against Sexton involving his former girlfriend and mother of his children, she alleges that on Nov. 2, 2019, he attacked her during an argument and threw her to the floor in front of their three children.
On Feb. 5, she and the children attempted to leave when Sexton blocked the driveway while shooting his handgun toward the woods. She said she was able to maneuver around his vehicle with her vehicle, but then he drove beside her and rammed her vehicle. She said he pointed his gun at her tire and threatened to shoot it.
She said she backed up into a neighbor’s driveway and he again rammed her vehicle with his vehicle with the children inside. She said she was finally able to get away.
On Feb. 7, Sexton allegedly tracked her to a residence on Stanage Terrace where she was hiding and threatened two of her friends with a gun. She also alleges he smashed the headlight and driver’s mirror of her car. She said Garland County sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and he fled from them.