Sheriff’s files
STEVEN MROSS
The Sentinel-Record staff
A check on a possibly suspicious female in the county led to the arrest of a local woman on felony and misdemeanor drug charges early Monday.
Vanessa L. Betchel, 40, who lists an address of 174 Hershel Road, was taken into custody around 9 a.m. in the 100 block of Ebony Way and charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamines, punishable by up to six years in prison, and three misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, punishable by up to one year in jail.
She was also wanted on a local warrant for failure to comply with a court order and out of Hot Spring County for a theft of motor fuel in Friendship.
According to reports, Garland County Sheriff ’s Deputy Joshua Cannon and Sgt. David Martineau were dispatched to the 100 block of Little Bit St., off Blacksnake Road, in reference to a suspicious female in the area.
They located the woman on Ebony Way, also off Blacksnake, and while they were speaking to her a white Pontiac pulled up and the woman told them that was who she was waiting for.
When the deputies checked the occupants of the car, they discovered one passenger, identified as Betchel, had warrants for her arrest, so she was taken into custody and searched.
Cannon notes he located three syringes in her purse and while being searched further at the Garland County Detention Center, jail staff located a small bag containing an off-white substance that later tested positive for meth, approximately 1 gram.
Betchel was charged and later turned over to Hot Spring County authorities. Her bond on the local charges is set at $5,500 and she is set to appear this week in Garland County District Court.
