Forrest City - A two-week criminal Circuit Court term started on Monday, and saw three St. Francis County residents sentenced to time in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. All three men were sentenced on drug-related offenses.

This court term is scheduled to end on Friday, March 13, and is being presided over by Division I Circuit Court Judge L.T. Simes II.

Of the three men sentenced on Monday, Dwaylon Tiswell, 34, of Forrest City, was given the longest sentence — of eight years in the ADC.

According to the affidavit, Tiswell was charged on Feb. 6 of last year for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The affidavit states that the Forrest City Police Department searched the residence that Tiswell was living in and found both a small amount of cocaine and a few grams of marijuana at the home. Tiswell had four prior convictions for controlled substance violations starting in 1994. At the time of the arrest, Tiswell also had a pending drug case from 2007 and was serving a 10-year suspended imposition of sentence for a firearms violation.

Timothy Parker, 43, Hughes, received five years in the ADC for three counts of fleeing, possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine, criminal attempt to manufacture methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and manufacturing methamphetamine.

The affidavit on Parker states that on April 24, 2008, Hughes officers found Parker in an old farm shop just south of the city at St. Francis County Roads 620 and 621. Officers found the materials needed to manufacture methamphetamine. Among the items found was a gray bag containing drug paraphernalia.

The bag had Parker’s name on it and several pieces of paper were found also with Parker’s name on them. Parker had been convicted four times previously for drug-related crimes and had missed his last scheduled drug court appearance before his arrest.

The third man, Antonio Mitchell, 19, Forrest City, was convicted of possession of a controlled substance marijuana and given three years in the ADC with 88 days credit for time served.

The affidavit on Mitchell states that on Aug. 26, 2008, the FCPD found a white SUV that was parked in the Shell Superstop on East Broadway. The vehicle fit the description of a vehicle that was firing gun shots out of the windows. Mitchell was one of the passengers in the vehicle. A handgun was found in the vehicle along with open beer cans and some marijuana. Mitchell previously had a conviction for a residential burglary that happened in 2006.


(By Alan Smith, Times-Herald Staff Writer.)

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