FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against an Oklahoma man whose wife was charged by federal authorities with making online threats.
Alan Lewis Crawford, 28, is charged in Washington County Circuit Court with felony fleeing and misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a minor and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Crawford pleaded not guilty Wednesday and was given an initial court date of Aug. 25.
Alan Crawford is being held at the Washington County jail with no bond set and a federal hold. Alan Crawford, of Muldrow, also is known as Omar Usman Khalid.
The fleeing charge is related to Alan Crawford and his wife, Daphne, evading police who were trying to arrest them the night of June 17 on Dickson Street. Prosecutors say Alan Crawford drove a car through a parking lot at a high rate of speed, putting a number of pedestrians at risk. The Crawfords were arrested the following morning at the Value Place motel on North College Avenue.
The controlled substances include a "usable amount of THC wax" and three clonazepam tablets, according to the charging document. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana and clonazepam is an anti-anxiety medicine.
The endangering charge is related to the clonazepam tablets and a gun being within reach of the Crawfords' young child in the motel room.
Alan Crawford was arrested by Fayetteville police and the FBI on a preliminary charge of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms. Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett said he does not anticipate filing charges related to the weapons found in the motel room.
Durrett said the guns appear to be legal. To sustain a guns and drugs possession charge, there had to have been a felony amount of drugs or evidence that Alan Crawford was selling drugs, and neither was the case, Durrett said.
Officers found three AR-15 assault rifles, a 12-gauge shotgun, six handguns and roughly 2,000 rounds of ammunition, including 721 rounds for the assault rifles, in the room, according to police reports.
Durrett said he does not know if federal authorities will file weapons charges against Alan Crawford.
Daphne Crawford, 29, was indicted by a federal grand jury and arraigned Tuesday on a charge of making threats of violence against someone using the Internet. She and her husband got into a verbal altercation with a waitress at a Prairie Grove diner last month. A customer posted a comment on Facebook about the incident.
Crawford responded online and said her husband would shoot the customer and his or her family, according to court documents. Crawford sent the person a photo of her husband dressed in Middle Eastern attire holding an assault rifle. Both Crawfords claim they are Muslim converts.
Daphne Crawford, also known as Daphne Ridenour and Umm Ammara Khalid, is being held at the Washington County jail.
According to authorities, the couple has ties to Arkansas, Oklahoma, Maryland and North Africa and are considered to be a flight risk and a danger to the public.
In December, the Crawfords were escorted out of Central Mall in Fort Smith after being accused of videotaping entrances. They weren't arrested or charged with a crime. The Crawfords claimed they were being targeted because of their religion.
NW News on 06/30/2016