Photo: Arkansas Department of Correction.
A Midway man finished working his way through criminal cases filed against him in three Arkansas counties with an appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Forty-six-year-old Raymond Scott Chappell began his journey through courtrooms in Washington, Izard and Baxter counties when he pled guilty in Fayetteville March 19 to having inappropriate sexual contact with his brother’s 12-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by eight years probation and will also be required to register as a sex offender and was ordered to have no contact with his young victim.
Chappell was initially arrested Christmas Day 2017 when a Fayetteville police officer responded to a sexual assault call.
The officer met with Chappell’s brother who said his sibling had “confessed” to inappropriately touching his daughter on Christmas Eve.
Chappell told police he did not think he had done what his brother and the brother’s child alleged. He admitted he was high on methamphetamine at the time, but says he was certain he would have remembered inappropriately touching his niece.
In the Washington County case, Chappell underwent a mental evaluation and was found fit to proceed and capable of being held criminally responsible for his actions.
He pled guilty to the charges against him in Izard County March 27 and was sentenced to six years in prison to run concurrent with the sentence in Washington County.
Chappell was arrested in late February last year when he and David Taylor of Mountain Home were caught outside a home along State Highway 56 in Calico Rock. A resident of the home awoke to a “banging” outside her house and found the electricity had been shut off. She looked out her window and saw two men in her yard. When she confronted the pair and asked them what they were doing on her property, Taylor is reported to have told the woman they were looking for people who owned Chappell money.
When an Izard County deputy sheriff arrived, it was discovered property located outside the residence had been disturbed, including a toolbox found open with its contents strewn about.
Chappell and Taylor were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief and possession of methamphetamine and paraphernalia used to ingest the drug.
Chappell completed his court appearances in connection with his criminal cases when, wearing a white prison uniform, he pled guilty to his Baxter County charges. In Baxter County, he was charged with drug-related offenses, including attempting to bring illegal substances into the county jail in September last year.
As he was being booked, jailers found pills in a small plastic bag hidden in Chappell’s sock. The pills were identified as generic versions of Xanax and Adderall. He also picked up drug charges stemming from a traffic stop in late August last year. After being pulled over for an equipment violation, Chappell was found to have drugs and drug paraphernalia in his possession.
Chappell was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the Baxter County charges, which will run concurrently with the sentences handed down in Washington and Izard counties, which will give Chappell a 12-year prison sentence.
He is an inmate at the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Delta Regional Unit in Dermott, where he was sent following his Washington County sentence.
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