FORT SMITH -- A doctor living in Fort Smith and practicing in Oklahoma was charged Friday with hiring a couple to make her a batch of methamphetamine.
A news release from Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue said Cynthia Carol Almond, described as being in her 60s, was charged in a warrant with conspiracy to commit manufacturing of methamphetamine. She was released from the county jail after posting a $20,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Sebastian County Circuit Court, the release said.
Conspiracy to commit manufacturing of methamphetamine is a Class D felony, punishable by up to six years in prison.
The Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision showed Almond is licensed until March and specializes in pain medicine and family medicine. The board record showed her office was in Roland, Okla., but calls to that office were not answered Friday.
An affidavit for an arrest warrant Shue sent out with the news release said Almond was seeing a patient, Justin Sharp, 31, of Roland on June 10.
"Almond asked him whether he still had the skills necessary to make methamphetamine and told him that she would find a place for him to do a one-pot ("shake-n-bake") meth cook and would pay him $200 up front and another $200 after the cook was complete," the affidavit said.
Almond offered to let Sharp and his wife Kyla use the vacant home next door to her home at 3220 S. 42nd St. to make the drug.
The affidavit said the three split the shopping list and bought the materials needed to make methamphetamine at various stores. It said Almond wrote herself a prescription for Zyrtec D and purchased two boxes at a Fort Smith pharmacy.
As Justin Sharp cooked the methamphetamine June 15, the affidavit said, Kyla watched their children in the front yard of the house. When the drug was cooked, Almond used her hair dryer to dry about 2 grams of the drug in her bathroom.
"After it was dry enough to ingest, Almond snorted some of the meth and Justin Sharp gave her the rest," the affidavit said.
Justin and Kyla Sharp also were charged with conspiracy to commit manufacturing of methamphetamine but had not been arrested as of Friday. The warrant showed $20,000 signature bonds were set for them.
Almond was issued a medical license in Arkansas in 1979, according to the Arkansas State Medical Board. The license expired in July 2012. It said she specialized in occupational medicine.
Almond graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences School of Medicine, according to the board records.
Board records showed her license was suspended in 1984 for fraudulently prescribing a drug for herself and again in 1987 after an arrest on unspecified drug charges.
State Desk on 07/09/2016