Ex-guard to file as sex offender
A former prison guard, fired for having sex with an inmate, was sentenced Friday to three years’ probation and ordered to register as a sex offender after dropping his challenge to a related criminal charge.
Torrye Delvin Gallon, 46, of North Little Rock was also fined $1,000 as part of his nocontest plea to third-degree sexual assault and ordered to have no contact with the woman.
Deputy prosecutor Troy Braswell said Gallon began talking to a 45-year-old inmate at the Aaron Hawkins Center for Women in Wrightsville in June 2008.
Their conversations eventually turned sexual, the prosecutor said, and Gallon had “repeated sexual contact” with the woman between June 1 and Aug. 10, 2008.
Gallon, a married father of two, was fired by the state Department of Correction after the relationship was discovered.
The woman, who is serving a 20-year sentence for drug convictions from Faulkner County, is scheduled for release in November 2012.
She attempted to sue Gallon in federal court in January 2009. Unable to afford a lawyer and denied court-appointed legal representation, she attempted to represent herself, but the case was thrown out of court, records show.
It is a crime for jail and prison guards, probation and parole officers, and Department of Human Services workers to have sex with anyone in their custody. The charge is a Class C felony that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Fire damages LR restaurant
A fire sparked perhaps by a cigarette tore through a popular west Little Rock restaurant early Saturday, causing an estimated $500,000 in damage, a Little Rock Fire Department captain said.
It took nine companies and 35 firefighters an hour to bring the blaze under control at the On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina at 11721 Chenal Parkway after passers-by reported seeing smoke coming from the roof about 4 a.m., said Capt. Randy Hickmon.
The fire appeared to begin on the outside of the restaurant, which sits on a large lot shared by the Garden Ridgestore and other businesses, Hickmon said. The suspected source of ignition centers in an area that employees and patrons use to smoke cigarettes, he said. Either the container used to dispose of cigarette butts or some nearby mulch caught fire with the flames eventually climbing the wall and entering the attic, Hickmon said.
The metal roof sustained the most damage, with the rest of the building suffering from the effects of smoke and water, he said. Firefighters remained at the restaurant until about 8:30 a.m., No one was in the building at the time of the fire, Hickmon said.
The restaurant, which is part of a national chain, also has outlets in Hot Springs and Rogers.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Inmate arrested in wife’s death
It’s been almost 11 years since Mary Newman-Evans disappeared and about nine years since her body was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area outside El Dorado.
This week El Dorado police made an arrest in the case, filing first-degree murder charges against Newman-Evans’ estranged husband, Johnny Frank Evans Jr., 34.
Evans, who is serving an unrelated prison sentence, appeared in Union County District Court on Wednesday for his first hearing in the case. A probable-cause affidavit was not available Thursday from the Union County prosecuting attorney’s office.
“This investigation has been open and ongoing. The detectives have revisited it a number of times over the years,” said Capt. David Smith, spokesman for the El Dorado Police Department. “New interviews and advances in technology led us to new avenues, and that’s what led us to the arrest. Detectives never really close a case like this until it’s solved.”
Evans remained a person of interest in the case, and on Monday, El Dorado police detectives filed an arrest warrant for him. Evans is serving a 76-year sentence in the Arkansas Department of Correction system for various drug-related crimes and a concurrent 10-year sentence for seconddegree sexual assault.
After the court appearance Wednesday, the case was sent to Union County Circuit Court for further proceedings, and Evans was ordered not to have any contact with Newman-Evans’ family. If convicted, he could face an additional 40 years in prison up to a life sentence.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 18 on 10/31/2010