Nykola Kotyk Jr. (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office
A rural Mountain Home man diagnosed with mental problems and reported to have been off his medications for some time was arrested September 10 for chasing a victim armed with a knife.
Sixty-year-old Nykola Kotyk Jr. appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday and entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him.
Kotyk asked that his case be brought up as soon as possible because he was having a “puppy problem at home.”
It is alleged that Kotyk began arguing with a male victim, who is reported to be a minor, at the Murphy Oil gas station adjacent to Walmart regarding an earlier confrontation involving Kotyk and a friend of the victim’s.
The victim said at one point, Kotyk pulled out a fixed blade knife, charged toward him and chased the juvenile to a vehicle. According to the probable cause affidavit, Kotyk then began to stab the exterior of the vehicle.
Police report that video from security cameras at the business shows Kotyk pulling the knife and chasing the victim until the two went out of the camera frame.
During his Sept. 23 appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court, Kotyk told the court he wanted the video preserved “because it will exonerate me 100%. I don’t want anything to happen to it.”
A report from the Mountain Home Police Department indicates the tapes have been preserved as evidence.
As he was being walked toward a police vehicle on the day of his arrest, Kotyk was reported to have become uncooperative, attempting to pull away from the escorting officer and refusing to walk.
He was taken to the Baxter County Detention Center, and a dog he had with him was turned over to animal control.
Following his most recent arrest, Kotyk was charged with aggravated assault, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental operations.
DHS SUPERVISION IN EARLIER CASE
Kotyk was arrested in late December 2017 stemming from an incident in which he was accused of verbally threatening neighbors and swinging a hatchet at two Baxter County sheriff’s deputies.
He was acquitted of those charges by reason of mental disease or defect.
The responding deputies in the first instance reported they found Kotyk standing in his yard, “yelling and screaming to the top of his voice.”
Kotyk demanded that the deputies immediately arrest his neighbors. He claimed the neighbors had electrified his house, placed a force field around the residence and put “chips and bugs” into his body.
As the deputies attempted to get Kotyk to calm down and talk to them, he was reported to have started walking toward his house and stun guns were used to stop him.
At one point, the deputies began grappling with Kotyk, and it was during this contact that he is alleged to have swung the hatchet.
He claimed that he was “100% innocent” in the earlier case, that the charges were false and that the deputies were drunk or on drugs.
According to documents filed in the case, Kotyk was not the best of neighbors. He is alleged to have told people living in the area that he “had a bullet with their names on it,” threatened to put rat poison in their wells and burn down their houses while the occupants were inside sleeping.
As the result of being found not fit to proceed in his first case, Kotyk has been under the supervision and care of the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) and Arisa Health/Ozark Guidance Center since mid-January 2020, when he left the Arkansas State Hospital on an order of conditional release.
Kotyk was to remain in the care of DHS until his fitness to proceed could be restored, or until it was determined restoration was not possible at which time another plan would be developed for his continuing care.
He was under supervision but not confined at the time of the alleged knife attack on Sept. 10. He was reported to be living at his long-time address along County Road 420.
Since he has been under the supervision of DHS and the Ozark Guidance Center, periodic reports have been made to the court and others as to Kotyk’s compliance with the terms of his conditional release.
Several items are monitored to ensure Kotyk was meeting the requirements of his conditional release. Those items include taking medications prescribed for him, attending treatment sessions, not changing addresses without approval, refraining from the use of alcohol or drugs and meeting with his “monitor” as directed.
Records indicate he met the conditions of his release for some time, but that began changing in January.
He was reported to have missed doctor’s appointments, therapy sessions and a large number of meetings between Jan. 4 and March 11.
OUT OF COMPLIANCE
In a report to the court dated Sept. 9, the day before the knife attack in Mountain Home, Kotyk was reported not to have been taking his medications beginning as early as Aug. 1.
The report is not clear on the point, but apparently that was still true at the time of the Sept. 10 incident.
Kotyk was said to have refused medications and canceled an appointment because he was “not interested in medication management.”
After the missed appointment, Kotyk was said to have been “unreachable” and that telephone calls placed to him were met with a notice that “voicemail had not been set up.”
The letter also points out that in a meeting on Aug. 20, Kotyk “chose not to answer if he was taking medicines as prescribed.”
The letter notifying of the noncompliance contained no specific plans on the next step in his case.
Studies have shown a patient not taking medications prescribed for mental illnesses can potentially be a threat to himself or those around him.
People in the community have reached out to KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News questioning why Kotyk was free if he had been refusing to take his medicine for a fairly lengthy period of time.
In addition, questions have been asked as to whether law enforcement agencies were notified of Kotyk’s non-compliance as required.
It does not appear law enforcement agencies received any notification that Kotyk was out of compliance with the terms and conditions of his release.
Gavin Lesnick, chief of the Office of Communications and Community Engagement with the Department of Human Services, said the agency was not permitted to discuss individual cases but did provide a general explanation of how the conditional release program works.
The conditional release compliance program monitors clients who have been acquitted of charges based on mental disease or defect and who have been conditionally released from the Arkansas State Hospital.
Monitors meet with clients for the purpose of verifying compliance with conditions of release and report this information to the courts and the prosecutor. Monitors can also reach out to the prosecutor if there is a need for a bench warrant.
The office of 14th Judicial District Prosecutor David Ethredge was notified of Kotyk’s failing to meet the conditions of his release and took action.
The PA’s office had Kotyk brought before a judge where the non-compliance issues were discussed. The judge presiding assigned a security level that makes records of that session unavailable to the public.
The end result is that a majority of the records pertaining to what was done or not done by the agencies charged with monitoring him are currently not available to the public.
Kotyk was jailed on his new charge with a recommended bond of $10,000, but the bond was lowered to $7,500 by a judge during Kotyk’s first appearance. The bond was posted by a bail bond company, and Kotyk was released from jail.
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