Documents detail arrests in robbery, kidnap incident
The affidavits for a Malvern woman and Perry County man arrested last month in connection with the alleged armed robbery and kidnapping of a local woman on Sept. 23 were released by Hot Springs police Tuesday.
Andrea Marie Burciaga, 39, who lists a Malvern address, was taken into custody around 5 p.m. on Sept. 23 and Cameron Morris Whitworth, 31, who lists a Houston address in Perry County, was taken into custody around 9 p.m. on Sept. 24 and each charged with felony counts of aggravated robbery, punishable by up to life in prison, kidnapping, punishable by up to 20 years, and aggravated assault, punishable by up to six years.
They were each also charged with misdemeanor counts of third-degree battery and theft of property, each punishable by up to one year in jail. Both Burciaga and Whitworth are felons on parole and Whitworth also had a warrant for failure to appear. Burciaga appeared Sept. 24 and Whitworth on Sept. 27 in Garland County District Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges with a felony review hearing set for both on Nov. 16.
Both remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $500,000 bonds and zero bond parole holds.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Sept. 23, shortly after 3:30 a.m., a local woman came to the police department to file a complaint alleging she had been robbed and kidnapped by two known suspects.
She said earlier that day she was at a residence on Arbor Street visiting a female friend and another woman, Burciaga, was there. She noted she and Burciaga have been friends for a while but Burciaga was mad at her because she thought the victim had ashes that belonged to her.
As the two were arguing about the ashes, Whitworth, whom she has also known for “many years,” and his girlfriend, 19, walked in. She said Whitworth struck her in the back of her head with the butt of a pistol and his girlfriend punched her in the face.
She also alleges that at one point Whitworth put the barrel of a rifle in her mouth and asked “if she was ready to die.” She said during this time, the three suspects took her phone and some jewelry, including two rings valued at $300.
She said the three of them then forced her into Burciaga’s
silver Nissan Altima and were going to take her to the victim’s house to look for the ashes. She said they told her if the ashes were not found she would “only leave the house in a box.”
While on the way there, they stopped at an E-Z Mart where Whitworth got into an altercation with someone. At that point, the suspects told the victim they were going to let her go “for now” but that she better have the ashes later that day.
She said they then dropped her off back on Arbor Street and gave her phone back, but not the jewelry. The victim had reportedly never met Whitworth’s girlfriend before, but was able to show officers her Facebook page and confirmed she was the one who had punched her. As of Tuesday, the third suspect had not been arrested.
Shortly before 10:30 a.m. that same day, the victim called Detective Mark Fallis to report that Burciaga had contacted her again, sending her a threatening message which she later showed to Fallis.
The message reportedly stated, “(Expletive), if U think getting pistol whipped and getting the barrel of a gun shoved down your throat by the 4 of us last night… wait and see what we do next. And I promise U this much. If I find out U snitched and talk to the police about anything that happened last night U will be the next box of ashes someone is looking for.”
Warrants were issued for Burciaga and Whitworth and the third suspect later that day and Burciaga was taken into custody that same day in the 300 block of Marion Anderson Road while Whitworth was taken into custody the next day in the 200 block of Cooper Street.
According to court records, Burciaga was previously convicted in Garland County on Sept. 17, 2018, of possession of meth with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to 20 years in prison with 12 years suspended and on Oct. 9, 2018, of delivery of meth and sentenced to 20 years in prison with 13 years suspended, all to run concurrently.
Whitworth was convicted in Garland County on March 14, 2017, of possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to four years’ supervised probation. On Aug. 14, 2017, he was convicted again of possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to four years in prison after his probation was revoked. On Oct. 21, 2019, in Perry County, he was convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of meth with purpose to deliver and sentenced to two years in prison.