FORT SMITH — A Sept. 13 raid on the rural Crawford County home of Dr. Jimmy Acklin yielded guns and illegal drugs, and reports in the investigative file show his co-defendants, Michelle Renee Thomas and Jerry Allen Thomas, lived in the home and depended on Acklin for theirsole income.
The three face one count each of “manufacture” of marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and possession of drug paraphernalia filed in Crawford County Circuit Court. No trial date has been set.
Reports said the couple and Acklin lived on separate floors of the two-story house. The youngest of the Thomases’ children, a 14-year-old, was reported as a resident, though the case file didn’t say whether the child was home during the execution of the search warrant.
When drug agents asked Jerry Thomas howlong Thomas had lived there, Thomas estimated 14 years. He listed Acklin as his employer and said the doctor paid him $1,000 a month. For her work, Michelle Thomas said she received “room and board.” Meanwhile, Acklin made $9,500 a month as residency program director at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Area Health Education Center in Fort Smith, according to records in the file.
Acklin is on administrative leave from his position at the clinic, where he was responsible for training young doctors entering family practice medicine. The Arkansas State Medical Board suspended Acklin’s license Friday after learning of his criminal charges, the board’s attorney said previously. The case resulted from a two-month task-force investigation and yielded three marijuana plants and 1 gram of methamphetamine, according to police reports and CrawfordCounty Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune.
The Thomases were arrested in the basement of the house, where officers also found marijuana and a marijuana plant, one report said. The other plants, later determined to be 16-feet tall, were “located on the property near a tree line in front of the residence.”
Acklin was arrested when he came home in the middle of the search.
When contacted Tuesday afternoon, Acklin said he had no comment because of the advice of his attorney, Randy Shock. Calls to Shock and to Michelle Thomas were not returned.
The police were tipped by a confidential informant who had recorded activity in the home, according to the reports.
In addition to the drugs and drug paraphernalia, authorities also seized two fluorescentlight fixtures, extension cords and five “insulation” panels among other items from the basement. Agents also found a broken methamphetamine pipe in Michelle Thomas’ purse and said she admitted to using the drug earlier that day. Officers reported seeing numerous books and magazine on drugs and growing marijuana.
Agents asked Jerry Thomas about whether he had grown marijuana in the past.
“He said that this was the first time that he had tried to grow marijuana and that all he did was follow the directions given in the book,” the report said. More than a dozen guns and rounds of ammunition were found throughout the house. They included a Charles Daly 12-gauge shotgun, a 9mm pistol, several .
22-caliber rifles and a foreign-made rifle. Scales, what appeared to be marijuana seeds, rolling papers, and metal and glass pipes also were discovered.
Outside, vehicles ranged from a 1968 white Chevrolet Camaro to a 1950s farm tractor.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 10/10/2012