PARAGOULD, Ark. — Jeremy R. Wells received a three-year sentence in a Craighead County revocation case as prosecutors dismissed drug charges arising from an April traffic stop in Paragould and three other revocation petitions, court records show.
On Sept. 17, Circuit Judge Chris Thyer imposed a 36-month sentence with judicial transfer, followed by 36 months of suspended imposition of sentence, in Craighead County case 16JCR-22-675. The signed plea agreement specifies that the custodial term is to be served in a “regional punishment facility.”
Wells pleaded guilty to the revocation petition in a case in which he had previously pleaded guilty in January 2023 to possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katherine Calaway represented the state, and public defender Terry Jones represented Wells, according to the sentencing order.
The sentencing form also lists a presumptive prison range of 84 to 180 months, or seven to 15 years. However, the Arkansas Sentencing Commission’s instructions say that section does not apply to probation or suspended-sentence revocations. The imposed sentence entered on Wells’ order is 36 months, with a separate 36 months of suspended imposition of sentence.
An order filed the next day in Greene County case 28CR-26-263 dismissed the charges from the April 13 stop, including felony drug possession and drug paraphernalia charges, an open-container misdemeanor and a vehicle-lighting violation. The order cites prosecutorial discretion and/or plea negotiations and refers to the Craighead County revocation matters.
A Craighead County dismissal order identifies the other three revocation cases and expressly links their dismissal to Wells’ plea in 16JCR-22-675. The dismissed revocation petitions were filed in 16JCR-22-1060, 16JCR-20-166 and 16JCR-13-692. Those dismissals concerned the revocation petitions; they did not erase the convictions in the underlying cases.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers stopped a vehicle driven by Wells on East Kingshighway shortly before 8 p.m. April 13 after observing that its headlights and taillights were off. Officers reported finding three open containers of alcohol, 2.7 grams of suspected methamphetamine, a glass pipe, a digital scale and a bag with suspected drug residue during a vehicle search.
Mariah J. Wiseman was a passenger, police said. Officers reported that she ran from the stop and was apprehended shortly afterward. A separate affidavit said officers found suspected marijuana and methamphetamine in a backpack containing her identification.
The state’s Craighead County revocation petition cited the alleged drug and alcohol offenses from the stop as grounds to revoke Wells’ suspended sentences. His guilty plea resolved the revocation allegation in 16JCR-22-675; the new Greene County charges were dismissed without a conviction in that case.
Wiseman is still awaiting trial in Greene County case 28CR-26-261, which includes drug possession, drug paraphernalia and fleeing charges from the stop.
She was also arrested in August on a separate failure-to-appear charge. The criminal information, filed Aug. 4, alleges she failed to appear for a May 15 hearing in the traffic-stop case. Failure to appear is charged as a Class C felony.
Both of Wiseman’s cases are scheduled for a Dec. 2 court date and a trial week beginning Dec. 14. Neither docket lists a plea or disposition on those charges.
Read our original report on the April traffic stop and arrests.
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