Charles Franks (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
In 2009, the first criminal case was opened on Charles Matthew Franks. On Monday, Franks pled guilty to his latest drug-related charges and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
During the last 14 years, 11 criminal cases have been opened on the 39-year-old Franks, and he has often been on probation or parole from one case when he picks up new charges, according to electronic court records.
Franks latest arrest came in early November 2023 after a high-speed chase.
He was charged with violating parole, trafficking drugs, possession of Oxycodone, Roxicodone, Fentanyl, methamphetamine and psyllium mushrooms.
Franks’ problems began when a Baxter County sheriff’s deputy clocked a motorcycle doing 70-miles-per-hour in a 35-miles-per-hour zone.
In the probable cause affidavit, the deputy reported Franks committed numerous traffic violations during the chase.
As he passed through one intersection, the deputy reported Frank’s was traveling so fast that both tires on his bike left the ground.
The chase continued until reaching a residence along County Road 25. Franks rode the bike up the driveway but lost control and crashed.
Franks was reported to have run around the side of the house. Deputies were eventually able to get close enough to Franks that a stun gun could be used on him.
A black “satchel bag” was found on the roof of the residence. It was described as being similar to one Franks has been wearing around his waist earlier.
When the bag was opened, drugs and drug paraphernalia were found.
Franks was also reported to have had just under $12,000 in cash on his person.
FRANKS TAKES ANOTHER NAME
Franks shows an AKA of Sir Charles Matthew Francke. In late June 2019, Franks, who was in prison at the time on a drug conviction from Baxter County, applied to the Jefferson County Circuit Court to officially change his name.
The petition was filed in Jefferson County because Franks was being held in the Tucker Unit of the state prison system located near Pine Bluff.
In his petition to make the name change, Franks said he was taking the step as “a religious acknowledgment accommodation.”
The new name shows up in court and jail records set up on Franks.
Through the years, Franks’ charges have been mainly drug-related, but he has also been arrested on theft of property, theft by receiving, and hindering apprehension.
VAN BUREN COUNTY CHARGES
Franks is also facing drug-related charges in Van Buren County. He was arrested there in mid-July 2022 and charged with trafficking, possession of drugs — including almost 490 grams of a substance testing positive for methamphetamine — and various items of drug paraphernalia.
Franks is charged with trafficking Fentynal in both Baxter and Van Buren counties. The charge is a Class Y felony, the most serious classification of crime in Arkansas not punishable by death.
His jury trial in Van Buren County is set for mid-February, 2025, according to court records. Franks is being held in the Van Buren County jail.
A Harrisburg attorney, Jarrett Cobb, represents Franks in his cases in Baxter and Van Buren Counties.
As Circuit Judge John Putman was going through the plea taking process, he asked Franks if he was guilty of the crimes he was alleged to have committed. “Guilty as ever,” Franks replied.
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