Woman with history of driving without license arrested on felony drug charge
A reportedly homeless woman with a history of driving on a suspended license was arrested again early Sunday for the same offense but is also facing a felony drug charge after meth was allegedly found in her possession.
Laura Kight McCool, 58, who lists “city streets” as her address, was taken into custody shortly after 4 a.m. and charged with possession of a controlled substance, meth, punishable by up to six years in prison, misdemeanor counts of driving on a suspended license and driving a vehicle without tags and was cited for having no insurance.
McCool, who also had a warrant for failure to appear, was being held on a $4,000 bond and was set to appear Monday in Garland County District Court. McCool, who lists no prior felony history, was previously arrested for driving on a suspended license on Dec. 21, 2022, Jan. 17 and Jan. 20 with all three cases still pending and was previously convicted on the same charge in Van Buren County on May 4, 2017, and sentenced to three days in jail.
According to the probable cause affidavit, around 4 a.m. Sunday, Hot Springs police Officer
Aaron Combs made a traffic stop on a green 2007 Subaru Forester in the 200 block of West Grand Avenue for having expired registration.
He made contact with the driver, identified as McCool, who stated she was aware her registration was expired and reportedly admitted she had no insurance. A computer check showed her driver’s license was suspended.
A further computer check reportedly showed that between 2017 and 2023 McCool had been cited approximately seven times for driving on a suspended license and had three warrants from different jurisdictions for the same charge.
Based on that information and her license still being suspended and her registration expired, as well as the warrants, Combs took McCool into custody.
In searching her person, officers allegedly found a plastic baggie with 0.8 grams of what later tested positive for meth in her pants pocket. Once at the detention center, McCool was questioned after being read her rights and reportedly admitted it was meth and that she had obtained it from a neighbor.