Baxter County Detention Center inmate tries to hire another prisoner to kill his mother

An inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center has picked up an additional charge after he tried to hire another prisoner to kill his mother so he could collect his trust fund she oversees. Thirty-six-year-old Daniel Lewis Chentnik of rural Gassville was in the local jail on drug charges at the time.According to the probable cause affidavit from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened six days before Christmas when Chentnik approached the prisoner, telling him how much he disliked his mother and asked if he could have her killed.

During questioning, the other inmate told investigators he would not do such a thing, but he told Chentnik he would so he wouldn’t ask other prisoners.

The inmate told investigators Chentnik’s mother oversees his trust fund and when she dies, he gets the money. Chentnik told the other inmate he only wants to see her at her funeral to see her dead.

Chentnik offered the other inmate his 2016 truck as down payment and then he would get 10% of the trust once it was paid out.

The inmate told investigators the death was supposed to look like an accident, such as a car accident or a burglary gone wrong.

When asked how he knew the information was credible, the inmate gave investigators a piece of paper from Chentnik that had his mother’s name and address on it, her health conditions and Chentnik’s address. It also had the make and model of truck the inmate would get for the down payment.

When Chentnik was interviewed, he admitted his relationship with his mother is rocky. He said his grandfather left him money when he passed away and his mother oversees the trust.

Chentnik is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, a class Y felony, the most serious crime in Arkansas not punishable by the death penalty.

Chentnik was in the jail on charges of possession of Fentynal with purpose to deliver, possession of methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a schedule IV controlled substance with purpose to deliver, all felonies; and possession of a schedule VI controlled substance with purpose with purpose to deliver, a misdemeanor.

Those charges stemmed from a probation home visit in September.

Chentnik was also arrested in 2021 on charges of aggravated assault, terroristic threatening and resisting arrest. In that incident, Mountain Home Police were called to the parking lot at Baxter Regional Medical Center for an armed man with a bullet proof vest in a vehicle. After being arrested, he had to be restrained in the emergency room while receiving treatment.

Chentnik was originally put on probation for the 2021 incident, but by being arrested in September, he violated his probation.

In a plea deal with the court, Chentnik agreed to plead guilty to the charges from his previous two arrests and was sentenced to 36 months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

Chentnik has already been transferred to the Ouachita River Correctional Facility at Malvern.

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