A 22-year-old Baxter County man pled guilty to charges in three criminal cases during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
The charges in two of David Zack Peifer’s most recent cases were picked up while he was locked up in jail.
Peifer, who is already serving time on earlier convictions, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is an inmate at the East Arkansas Max Unit at Marianna.
Peifer was involved with another inmate, 23-year-old Jonathan Cole Smith, Jr., in creating a disturbance in the jail by flooding their cell area multiple times and fashioning a “shank” out of a metal broom handle.
The two cellmates were reported to have been upset because they had been moved and wanted to be sent back to “their pod.”
During the “protest” about the move, Peifer and Smith were accused of blocking toilets and sinks in their cell, banging on the cell door, blocking security cameras, setting off the jail’s fire suppression system by breaking a sprinkler head and making the shank.
Smith has already entered a guilty plea to his charges and was given five years in prison. He was already in prison serving time on an earlier conviction.
In Peifer’s third case, he was facing drug-related charges from an incident that took place outside the jail.
He was driving a vehicle that was stopped by Mountain Home Police on December 23, 2022, because Peifer had active felony arrest warrants out for him.
A search was conducted on the vehicle and a white power substance field testing positive for cocaine was found. In addition, digital scales and a syringe were located.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a 9-millimeter handgun was found under the passenger’s seat.
Peifer has had eight criminal cases opened against him in Baxter County since 2020. He also shows charges filed in Fulton and Jackson Counties.
Earlier charges against Peifer include those stemming from his participation in an attempt to smuggle contraband to his older brother, Hunter “Ty” Peifer, when he was an inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center.
24-year-old “Ty” Peifer is currently on parole and will be until March 8, 2031. He is shown as being supervised by the Newport office of Arkansas Community Corrections.
The 62-year-old grandmother of the Peifer brothers, Mary Victoria Ward of Mountain Home, was also charged with being part of the plan. She pled guilty to her charges and was put on four years probation.
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