Uhlan Woods
A Gassville man accused of having a number of sexually explicit images of a teenage relative on his cellphone and computer requested through his attorney that his bond be lowered during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Bond for 49-year-old Uhlan Esel “Buddy” Woods is set at $75,000.
Circuit Judge John Putman left the bond at its current figure.
According to investigators, Baxter County sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence along Cotter Road just outside Gassville about 7 p.m. on July 13.
The deputies determined that Woods had been involved in an argument with his wife during the morning hours of July 13 after she found inappropriate images of a teenage relative on his cellphone and confronted him about the discovery.
The wife told investigators she had answered Wood’s phone because he was not in the house at the time and saw an “app” on the phone that would allow the use of a second number for texting and calling. She alleged that when she opened the “app” known as “TextFree,” she saw messages and pictures that had been sent by the teenage victim.
Messages contained in the app were reported to have directed the victim to send nude photos of herself or she would “be in trouble.”
Another message threatened that if photos were not sent to a certain toll free number, the writer would “ruin the life” of the teen.
When the wife returned home after work, Woods had left the residence, taking a 9 millimeter handgun and his two grandchildren, ages one and three, with him.
At the time, Woods had court-ordered custody of the grandchildren.
A Be-On-The-Lookout (BOLO) was broadcast for Woods.
A deputy sheriff was able to make contact with Woods at one point and attempted to convince him to drop the two children off at a safe location.
Woods is alleged to have replied he intended to take the children to relatives living in Iowa.
Woods was stopped and taken into custody near Rolla in Phelps County, Missouri.
The two young children were not with him when he was pulled over. It was determined he had dropped the grandchildren off at a family member’s residence in Gamaliel before he fled the county.
Investigators are reported to have gone through Woods’ cellphone and laptop computer and to have located a significant number of inappropriate images of the victim.
Woods is charged with engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium, a Class Y felony.
A Class Y felony is the most serious classification of crime in Arkansas not punishable by death.
He is also charged with distributing, possessing or viewing mater depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.
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