FORT SMITH POLICE CHIEF SHUTS DOWN LONG TIME PARTICIPATION OF FSPD OFFICERS SUPPORTING SPECIAL OLYMPICS TORCH RUN

DON"T EXPECT TO SEE THIS IN FORT SMITH ANYMORE

Our friends at Today in Fort Smith provide details concerning the Fort Smith Police Chief putting an end to the long time practice of FSPD officers participating in the Special Olympics Torch Run. 

You can read their story by clicking here.

CLARK SPEAKS AT THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS HIRING AS GEFFKEN SHOWS HIS APPROVAL

Why not give FSPD Chief Nate Clark a call next week and let him know what you think about his decision.

This is Clark's number: 479-709-5143. 

Might as well call the prickly Fort Smith City Administrator, Carl Geffken, and give him an earful too.

This is Geffken's number: 479-784-2201.

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Check out our post about the Fort Smith city employee caught watching porn at work. Click here to view.

BOND SET AT $60,000 FOR STACY DIGBY, RECENTLY RESIGNED MAYOR OF HIGHFILL, IN SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE INVOLVING A MINOR

STACY DIGBY - FORMER HIGHFILL MAYOR AND LAY MINISTER REAPING WHAT HE SOWED

Bond was set Wednesday at $60,000 for Stacy Charles Digby, the now former Mayor of Highfill who resigned shortly before being arrested and charged with two felony offenses stemming from his inappropriate and illegal sexual contact with a female minor. According to online records at the Benton County Detention Center, Digby remains in jail at the time this post was published.

Benton County District Court Judge Chris Griffin had initially set Digby's bond at $30,000 but later doubled it.

 

BENTON COUNTY DISTRICT COURT JUDGE CHRIS GRIFFIN

Apparently Digby began his relationship with the minor a year after his divorce in 2011,  At that time the girl was 12 and was attending the Highfill United Methodist Church with her grandparents.

Digby's home is located next door the the church.

When first questioned by authorities the 17 year old denied any sexual contact with Digby. However, she later detailed their relationship and confirmed that she and Digby had sexual relations.

It appears that there was some effort by Digby to not portray him as a youth minister but rather as a lay minister in covert contact between him and S.M. while the investigation was underway.

It is mentioned in the affidavit that Digby provided an LG cellphone to S.M. to use and Digby had hidden his computer and had hidden an external hard drive in his parents milk barn. You can imagine what was on his computer and the external hard drive. Perhaps some child pornography charges will soon follow.

Digby's parents were not very cooperative with authorities and did not want them to take the external hard drive their son had hidden in their milk barn.

CHARLES & KAREN DIGBY

Perhaps Digby gets his wild side from his mother.

A former girlfriend of Digby's, Amy Trammell,  related his confession to her of his illegal sexual relationship with the minor.



 Digby also told Trammell that he was going to marry S.M. when she turned 18.

AMY TRAMMELL

The 13 year old sister of the victim , identified as "S.S.M." provided some illuminating details.

 

The complete 30 page affidavit can be viewed by clicking here. 

A poor job was done in the redaction of the document as we were able to identify the victim from reading it in only a few minutes.  We were also able to identify one church member that brought concerns to the authorities.

PAM HARWELL - SAW TEEN SITTING IN DIGBY'S LAP AT BOWLING ALLEY

The minister of the Highfill United Methodist Church was interviewed as the victim is a parishioner and investigators thought he might have some information to shed light on the sick situation. Wrong. Rev. Hall has has been quoted by the media as saying the allegations and charges against his pal Digby are false. You can hear him say that in this news report.

REV. RUSS  HALL CROSSES LINE IN HIS SUPPORT OF DIGBY

The United Methodist Church takes a dim view of they type of  behavior and actions Digby was involved in with the minor and has a method to remove him from its membership role as detailed in its Book of Discipline.

 

Rev. Hall's comments will no doubt remove him as a participant in any action the local church takes as his bias has been clearly demonstrated.  Maybe he needs to read the affidavit and keep his mouth shut for the good of the UMC and his congregation.

We wonder if member of Hall's congregation came to him with concerns about Digby? If so what did Hall do beside offer Digby unfettering support? 

As a member of the clergy, Rev. Hall is a mandated reporter under Arkansas Code § 12-18-402. If parishioners came to him about Digby, did Rev. Hall pass those suspensions on to the appropriate law enforcement agencies?

Probably  not. That is something the Boone County Prosecuting Attorney should look at.

DIGBY LIKES THEM YOUNG

They need to get Digby out of the Highfill United Methodist Church to protect other minor females from becoming his next victim. Might be a good idea for the District Superintendent and Bishop to look for a new minister at the Highfill UMC as well.

Don't expect the Arkansas United Methodist Church Bishop Gary Mueller to have anything to say about this matter. 

We are still waiting on him to answer our question about the UMC returning the $100K bribe that former Jefferson County Judge and retired UMC minister Henry "Hank" Wilkins accepted from lobbyist Rust Cranford when Wilkins was a state legislator and he passed on to his pastoral charge, St. James UMC in Pine Bluff.

 

GARY MUELLER - ARKANSAS UMC BISHOP

We never met a UMC Bishop that had any spine or much intelligence and Mueller is no exception. Most are pompous blowhards that could not find their way out of a paper bag.

Stay tuned for updates.


***UPDATE***

According to posts on the Facebook account of S.M.'s grandmother, S. M. has been missing for 22 hours.

We attempted to contact the Benton County Sheriff's Office but could not reach any media contacts.  We they returned our call (using the number 501-712-2312) we were on the phone with a content sharing partner in NWA and did not recognize the number as being from the BCSO as they are in the 479 area code.  A nasty voicemail message was left complaining that we did not answer.


***UPDATE 3/31/18 - 5:45PM***

According to a post on the Facebook account of S.M's grandmother, S.M. was located by the Fayetteville Police and taken into custody.

 

EMPLOYEES ARE GOING CRAZY AT THE ARKANSAS STATE HOSPITAL - THE BUCK STOPS WITH DHS DIRECTOR CINDY GILLESPIE

ARE STATE HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES DRIVING DHS DIRECTOR CINDY GILLESPIE CRAZY TOO?

More shenanigans uncovered with employees at the Arkansas State Hospital.  

Read about the latest developments on our Bad Arkansas Department of Human Services blog - http://badarkdhs.blogspot.com/2018/03/employees-are-going-crazy-at-arkansas.html

HIGHFILL MAYOR RESIGNS AND IS ARRESTED FOR SEXUAL OFFENSES AFTER TWO MONTH INVESTIGATION

Highfill Mayor Stacy Digby was arrested this morning in connection with having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, according to Sgt. Shannon Jenkins with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.

In January, the Benton County Sheriff's Office announced it was investigating Digby on the possibility of an inappropriate relationship between him and a juvenile.

Digby, 44, faces felony charges of sexual indecency with a child and first-degree sexual assault.

Digby resigned this morning shortly before being arrested. Stacie Williamson, the Highfill recorder/treasurer, will now serve as interim mayor.

Russ Hall, the pastor, told investigators the leadership position is similar to that of an elder in other denominations, adding that lay leaders often represent the Methodist church at state and national events, according to a probable cause affidavit.

It is believed that the juvenile attended services at the church and Digby had contact with her there. 

HIGHFILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH AND ITS PASTOR, RUSS HALL

Residents had approached city officials about concerns over the mayor’s relationship with the girl, which began in 2014, according to the affidavit.

Residents reported recently seeing the girl sitting on Digby’s lap at a bowling alley. Another time a Highfill officer found the girl in the mayor’s office around 1 a.m., according to the affidavit.

Highfill Police Chief Blake Webb asked for an outside agency to investigate, and the sheriff’s office opened an investigation in January.

 

HIGHFILL POLICE CHIEF BLAKE WEBB

On January 10th, the sheriff’s office searched Digby’s home on Linwood Street, where they found pictures of the girl, her clothes and medication.

DIGBY'S HOME IS NEXT DOOR TO THE HIGHFILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

One of the girl’s siblings later told deputies that Digby would come to their house late at night and once sent the girl a picture of his genitals, according to the affidavit.

Digby is being held at the Benton County Jail with no bond set. He has a hearing set for May 7th in Benton County Circuit Court.

FLEEING STATE HOSPITAL PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINER AND PATIENT ARRESTED IN LAS VEGAS - HEARING SET FOR FRIDAY IN NEVADA

MICHELLE MESSER & CORY CHAPIN WERE ARRESTED IN LAS VEGAS THIS MORNING

Read about the arrest of the pair in Las Vegan on our Bad Arkansas Department of Human Services blog. http://badarkdhs.blogspot.com/2018/03/fleeing-state-hosptial-psychological.html

TAINTED ABC ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR HAD TO LET ABC ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR TAKE HEAT IN COURT DUE TO HIS ISSUES WITH CREDIBILITY

TAINTED ABC ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR BOYCE HAMLET - AFRAID TO APPEAR BEFORE JUDGE GRIFFIN AS HE ONCE TESTIFIED IN A CASE BEFORE JUDGE GRIFFIN THAT HE HAD ISSUES WITH CREDIBILITY AND TRUTHFULNESS.

Read this post on our Bad Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control blog.

http://badaralcoholcontol.blogspot.com/2018/03/tainted-abc-enforcement-director-had-to.html

DHS STATE HOSPTIAL EMPLOYEE ON THE RUN WITH MENTAL PATIENT - DHS SAYS THEY WILL FIRE HER WHEN THEY FIND HER

MICHELLE MESSER, A DHS/ASH PSYCHOLOGIST TOOK OFF WITH PATIENT/INMATE CORY CHAPIN

Read the post on our Bad Arkansas Department of Human Services blog. Click here to view it.

 

ARKANSAS ETHICS COMMISSION SETS PROBABLE CAUSE HEARING FOR FORT SMITH DISTRICT JUDGE JIM O'HERN AND COHORTS IN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS MATTER

O'HERN'S MUGSHOT FROM A BOTCHED LRPD INVESTIGATION

The Arkansas Ethics Commission has set a Probable Cause hearing for March 16th at 9:00 a.m. for Fort Smith District Judge Jim O'Hern, his campaign treasurer and two financial contributors.

The complaint involves an illegal campaign contribution O'Hern accepted during his campaign for District Judge. You can view the Citizen Complaint by clicking here. 

Arkansas Ethics Commission _Judge James O'Hern Probable Cause Hearing Notice by Russ Racop on Scribd

We expect the Commission to make a finding that probable cause exists for a violation of Arkansas Code 7-6-203 and will set a date for a hearing on the facts.

Stay tuned for updates.

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***UPDATE - 03/16/18***

For an unknown reason, the probable cause hearing for Judge Jimbo was passed until April 20th.

 
 

PORN WATCHING FORT SMITH CITY EMPLOYEE IDENTIFED - VIDEO SHOWS HIM LOOKING AT PORN WHILE SITTING IN HIS CUBICLE

STEPHEN DAW,  A FT. SMITH CITY EMPLOYEE WATCHING PORN AT WORK

Last week we posted about a story that was featured on Today in Fort Smith, a digital news service in Fort Smith. You can read that post by clicking here.

The story detailed shenanigans with the city of Fort Smith in which a city employee, Stephen Daw,  was caught viewing pornography at work and a subsequent  attempt by the city of Fort Smith to prevent the public from having detailed information about the matter.

This evening, Today in Fort Smith updated their coverage and reported that the city of Fort Smith IT Department found the remains of treasure trove of porn, from the mostly deleted and wiped hard drive from Daw's city owned laptop. You can view their post by clicking here.

 

Here is the video that Geffken and the city of Fort Smith did not want made public.

  

Today in Fort Smith sent a Freedom of Information request to the city of Fort Smith and the prickly city administrator Carl Geffken objected to the request and sent a request for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to back him up.

FORT SMITH CITY ADMINISTRATOR CARL GEFFKEN

Rutledge jumped all over Geffken in her response chastising him for "lumping" all the records together and claiming that they were "employee evaluation records".

Rutledge told Geffken that his decision to withhold records was against the law.

Arkansas Attorney General's Opinion 2018-023 by Russ Racop on Scribd

Geffken, being put in his place and schooled on our Freedom of Information Act and had to then provide Today in Fort Smith the requested information.

Here is the information prickly Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken turned over to Today in Fort Smith.

City of Fort Smith Freeedom of information Response by Russ Racop on Scribd

There may be more details coming out regarding this mess as we sent a FOI request for internet activity reports, including cookies and bookmarks.

Stay tuned for updates.


***UPDATE 4/3/18*** 

Our friends at Today in Fort Smith did some investigating after receiving information and discovered that Daw was forced to resign a previous position in New Mexico due to posts made on his Twitter account.

You can read the post by Today in Fort Smith by clicking here.