Seat belt violation leads to four felony arrests for drugs

Jul 27, 2023

Four people were arrested Friday after a traffic stop for a seat belt violation led to the alleged discovery of three guns, fentanyl, meth, mushrooms, marijuana and multiple pills in the vehicle.

John Wesley Hodges, 57, and Sandra Kay Robinson, 65, who list the same Donaldson address, Elisabeth Ann Wiles, 28, who lists a Daisy Hill Circle address in Royal, and Kasey G. Robinson, 41, who lists the Motel 6 on Lookout Point as his address, were all taken into custody shortly after 1 p.m. Friday in the 4200 block of Central Avenue.

The four were later charged with trafficking a controlled substance and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, each punishable by up to life in prison, two counts of possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver, each punishable by up to 20 years, possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver, punishable by up to 10 years, two counts of theft by receiving of a firearm and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, punishable by six to 20 years.

Wiles and Kasey Robinson, both felons, were also each charged with two counts of possession of firearms by certain persons, punishable by up to six years, and Kasey Robinson was charged with an additional count of possession of meth with purpose to deliver and introduction of a controlled substance into a correctional facility.

All four remained in custody Tuesday with Hodges and Sandra Robinson each being held on a $200,000 bond, Kasey Robinson on a $350,000 bond and Wiles on a $211,000 bond and they all appeared Monday in Garland County District Court and are set for a felony review hearing on July 7.

According to court records, Sandra Robinson lists no prior criminal history and Hodges lists no prior felony history. Kasey Robinson was convicted in 2009 of manufacturing a controlled substance and in 2014 of second-degree domestic battery and aggravated assault and has felony charges pending in other cases. Wiles was convicted in 2017 of possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to four years' supervised probation.

According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly before 12:30 p.m. Friday, Hot Springs police Sgt. Jarret Cantrell was contacted by detectives with the HSPD's Special Investigations Division regarding a gray, unlicensed Acura SUV that reportedly had a driver and two occupants sharing the front seat that had just left the Motel 6, 106 Lookout Point, turning onto Central Avenue.

Cantrell spotted the vehicle traveling through the parking lot of La Quinta Inn, 4253 Central, and was able to confirm three occupants were riding up front and one was not wearing a seat belt, so he made a traffic stop on the SUV in the parking lot.

Cantrell approached the driver, identified as Hodges, and noted a woman, later identified as Sandra Robinson, was "riding on top of the center console" and a second man, identified as Kasey Robinson, was in the front seat with no seat belt. He started getting information from the other occupants, including a woman in the back seat, identified as Wiles, who had no ID on her but after she gave her name was found to have two failure to appear warrants.

Due to Kasey Robinson's history of narcotics and gun possession, the affidavit states, Officer 1st Class Tiffani McCauley and her narcotics detection K-9 partner, Patriot, were called in to do a sniff on the vehicle and reportedly alerted on several different areas as they circled around it.

Various narcotics were allegedly found in different parts of the vehicle including 422.4 grams, or almost one pound, of marijuana; 91 pills with different labels; 5.0 grams of blue powder that tested positive for fentanyl; 25.9 grams of mushrooms; and 4.9 grams of what later tested positive for meth.

Officers also located a loaded Ruger 9-mm handgun that had been reported stolen in the county, a Canik 9-mm handgun, and a black American Tactical 9-mm handgun that was reported stolen in the city.

All four suspects were taken into custody and taken to the Garland County Detention Center. As Officer 1st Class John Albright was starting to leave the jail, Kasey Robinson, who was in the booking room, got his attention and told him there was "a bag of dope" under his seat that didn't belong to him and he "wanted it away from him."

Albright located a baggie with 0.7 grams of meth under the seat and then reviewed the security footage from the room. In it, Kasey Robinson could be seen reaching into his pocket and "manipulating an object" before removing his hand. Then he reached in again and removed the object, closing his fist quickly.

A few minutes later, he was reportedly seen tossing the object under the seat he was in. It was noted no one else was near that area where the narcotics were found from the time he tossed it under the seat until he approached Albright.

Due to his actions, Kasey Robinson was charged with the additional felony count of introducing contraband into a correction facility and an additional count of possession of meth.

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