A Mountain Home man entered guilty pleas to charges in three open criminal cases during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Ralph Eugene Ford,III was sentenced to four years probation.
The most recent arrest for Ford came on January 26 when his mother came to the Baxter County Detention Center to visit him.
She brought pictures for Ford and they were checked for contraband.
During the search, one of the pictures was found to have a postage stamp affixed to it. Underneath the stamp was half of a Suboxone strip.
Ford’s mother was interviewed and said she had no idea the drug was being concealed under the postage stamp.
She said a woman had given her the pictures to take to her son on her upcoming visit and she had messages from the woman to verify what she was telling investigators.
Ford’s mother allowed investigators to check the messages and they reported the texts showed the mother had no idea that an illegal substance had been put under the stamp.
GUILTY PLEAS IN TWO OTHER CASES
During Monday’s circuit court session, Ford also pled guilty to drug-related charges stemming from him being stopped at a sobriety checkpoint on State Highway 126 on New Year’s Eve in 2021.
According to the probable cause affidavit, officers found methamphetamine, marijuana and paraphernalia commonly used for ingesting both drugs.
Another traffic stop on August 18 last year also got Ford in drug-related trouble. He was initially pulled over for going 22 miles-per-hour over the posted speed limit, according to the probable cause affidavit.
During the stop, it was determined Ford had an active warrant issued by the Gassville Police Department and he was taken into custody.
An inventory search of the vehicle turned up a material that field-tested positive for methamphetamine and a smoking pipe used to ingest the drug.
Ford was released from the Baxter County Detention Center just before 8 p.m. on Monday.
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