A man waiting in jail to be transported to prison to begin serving a 10-year sentence appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday and pled guilty to new charges he picked up while in the local lockup.
Twenty-four-year-old Sean David Ford was sentenced to nine years in prison on the new charges to run concurrently with his earlier sentence.
Ford’s new charges stemmed from what was described as a “vicious” attack on another inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center Mar. 22.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the new case, Ford was caught on surveillance cameras as he “quickly approached” another inmate.
He was reported to have struck the victim in the face with his knee and then to have punched him several times in the face.
The attack was described as “completely unprovoked.” The victim was said to appear as if he had “not seen it coming.”
Ford walked away after the initial attack, but returned seconds later. He hit the victim, who was reported to be in a stupor and defenseless at that point, in the left side of the face.
The second attack was termed “particularly vicious” since the victim was not able to defend himself.
After the victim recovered sufficiently, he is seen on surveillance video making his way to the shower. A trail of blood could be seen along his route.
While the victim was in the shower tending to his wounds, Ford and other inmates could be seen cleaning up the blood trail with a mop and the victim’s belongings.
The injured inmate was taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center by ambulance. He required multiple stitches and a portion of the inside of his cheek had to be surgically removed.
The new charges filed against Ford include second-degree battery and impairing the operations of a vital public facility.
A TRAIL OF CHARGES:
On January 31,2021, a Baxter County sheriff’s deputy responded to a call concerning a possible drug overdose at a residence along Tafel Lane in the Midway area.
The deputy reported it was Sean Ford’s older brother, 30-year-old Matthew Kyle Ford, who was the overdose victim.
Matthew Ford told the deputy he had taken a “hot shot” containing approximately 30 units of methamphetamine. He alleged he had gotten the drug from Sean Ford.
When the deputy approached Sean outside the residence, he reported everything was “fine.” The deputy indicated everything was apparently not fine since his older brother was on the phone with 911 from inside the house reporting he had overdosed.
Sean Ford denied supplying methamphetamine to his older brother.
Sean was arrested on the scene and taken to jail, while Matthew was transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center for treatment. He was later booked into jail.
On February 18, 2021, police responded to the Tafel Lane address again where a fight between two males was reported underway.
The combatants were Matthew and Sean Ford. The fight was reported to have been triggered by the fact Matthew had pointed the finger at his younger brother as the source of the methamphetamine on which he had overdosed the month before.
According to the probable cause affidavit, when law enforcement officers arrived, they found ample evidence of the fight – including a skillet embedded in the drywall.
Matthew reported he was able to throw his younger sibling out of the residence at one point, but Sean had run around to the back of the house and used a “splitting maul” in an attempt to smash the rear door.
When that didn’t work, Sean was alleged to have gone to the front door and kicked it open. At that point Matthew’s pit bull attacked Sean biting him on the leg.
Sean said Matthew had attacked him and hit him in the face while he was attempting to gather his belongings.
Matthew told law officers he had allowed Sean to stay in the house the night before the incident “because he had no where else to go.”
Sean told officers his older brother’s residence was “full of meth and needles, and he knew where it was all hidden.”
The confrontation between the Ford brothers continued even after they arrived at the county jail.
According to a report on the incident, Sean was reported to have taken off his shoes and thrown them at his older brother.
Sean was also said to have become argumentative with jail staff. The booking process for Matthew was halted until the brothers could be separated.
On April 30, 2021, while out on bond, Sean got in trouble when he tried to deliver what appeared to be a Walmart photo envelop to an inmate in the Baxter County jail.
Jailers were busy with other duties at the time and Sean Ford was told to leave the item in the lobby of the building and it would be collected later.
A jailer eventually picked up the package and noticed it was “heavy and bulky.”
On examination, the package was found to contain a crystal like substance, loose tobacco and one dosage unit of a controlled substance.
According to a report on the incident, it is noted that Sean Ford “is easily identified as the person in the jail lobby by a distinctive tattoo on the left side of his neck.”
The package also contained a letter to the inmate signed by Sean Ford.
Sean Ford’s charges in the earlier cases included aggravated assault against a family member, impairing the operation of a vital public facility, possession of drug paraphernalia, delivery of methamphetamine and attempting to sneak contraband into the Baxter County jail.
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