Ex-deputy: Didn't sell drugs

He pleads innocent to 2 felony charges in Saline County

BENTON -- A former Saline County sheriff's office lieutenant pleaded innocent Monday to selling drugs to a confidential informant.

Mike Frost, 59, made the plea in his first Circuit Court appearance before Judge Gary Arnold. In court Monday, Frost said he understood the charges against him -- delivery of a controlled substance and illegal use of a communication facility, both Class C felonies. Frost initially entered an innocent plea in District Court on June 4.

"As a former law enforcement officer and veteran, he understands the process," his attorney, F. Parker Jones III, later said in a statement. "He respects the judicial process and asks for patience in allowing the process to run its course and not to rush to judgment."

Prosecutors say the former lieutenant in the sheriff's office's Criminal Investigation Division gave drugs to a confidential informant working for the FBI. The informant sent a text message to Frost's work cellphone on June 4, 2013, asking for narcotics, investigators said.

Frost said, "Yes and I wil:). Have u got a car to drive?" in a text to the informant just minutes later, according to the affidavit. An Arkansas State Police special agent and an FBI task force officer went to the informant's home the next day, when Frost told her he was on his way "to supply him/her with the requested narcotics," the affidavit states.

Frost got to the informant's home just before 1 p.m. that day in his unmarked Saline County sheriff's office-issued blue Dodge Durango, spent about five minutes with the informant on the porch and left, agents said. Afterward, the informant showed agents "a small plastic wrapping material which contained two white tablets," later identified as oxycodone acetaminophen, the affidavit states.

The informant told investigators that Frost gave her pills "around 2012 and 2013."

"In the statement, [the informant] said Frost knew if [she] got pills from him Frost in turn would get sex from [her]," the affidavit states.

Frost retired from the sheriff's office Jan. 16 "due to health reasons," according to the letter he submitted to the sheriff's administration. He has maintained his innocence through his attorney.

On Monday, Arnold called the case twice before Frost -- who is out on bond -- arrived late for his scheduled 9 a.m. court appearance.

Arnold was ready to set a trial date, but prosecutors asked for a hearing on all of the submitted motions first. Arnold set that hearing for Aug. 14.

The defense has already filed several motions, including one to change the venue and another to suppress the statement Frost gave to FBI agents.

Jones has asked Arnold to change the venue because the "case has been highly publicized to the extent that the mind of the inhabitants of Saline County are so prejudiced against the Defendant that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in this county," the motion states.

The defense attorney also pointed out that the case received a special prosecutor -- Cody Hiland of Faulkner County -- and that Frost's former employment caused "many residents to have strong opinions" about him.

"The media attention itself would not necessarily create a distraction for the citizens, but when a Google search available to most residents with a home computer or cell phone can find prejudicial, false, and inciting information related to the Defendant then [it] becomes necessary for this Court to take the step of changing the venue of the trial in order to ensure impartiality," Jones said in the motion.

In a separate motion, Jones is asking the court to block Frost's statement to the FBI, saying "the police did not have probable cause to arrest or detain the Defendant, and therefore, any statements which are the fruits of such an illegal arrest, are inadmissible against the Defendant."

Jones contends Frost never waived his constitutional rights and that he was denied his rights to legal counsel during the interrogation.

Prosecutors have said Frost gave a statement "that does not violate [his rights.]"

Two other former sheriff's office employees -- Sheriff Bruce Pennington, 63, and Chief Deputy of Finance Jo Nell Mallory, 60 -- are to appear in court for hearings Monday. Both have pleaded innocent.

Pennington and Mallory are each facing abuse of public trust and theft of property charges, both Class D felonies. Pennington also faces a misdemeanor charge of property theft.

Both are accused of taking cash from inmate calling-card kiosks for personal use, according to court records.

Pennington also got a man out of his court-ordered community service in exchange for the installation of free granite countertops in his Benton home, prosecutors said. He is also accused of cashing a $1,000 check made to the sheriff's office for SWAT team vests and spending the money for personal use.

According to court documents, Mallory waived court fees and fines for a man in exchange for his brother installing tile at her home without charging for labor.

Metro on 07/15/2014

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