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JUDGE ORDERS GED AS BOND CONDITION

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, August 8, 2008 11:52 PM CDT

Three Pine Bluff teenagers arrested Wednesday night on drug and weapons related charges were ordered to enroll at the adult education center and get their GEDs as a condition of their bond.

Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt Jr. told Tyrone Barker, 18, Daniel Benton, 19, and Christopher Rogers, 18, they had 10 days from the date they bonded out of the county detention center to start working on their GEDs, or they “would stay in jail until their case is decided.”

Wyatt set the condition after ruling prosecutors had probable cause to charge Barker, Benton and Rogers with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, and theft by receiving, stemming from their arrest Wednesday at 11:45 p.m.

The judge said prosecutors also had probable cause to charge Rogers with felony fleeing, after he ran from officers while driving a car, and Benton with criminal impersonation after he initially gave police and jailers a false name.

Reading from an affidavit from police vice and narcotics officer Brent Talley, Deputy Prosecutor Cymber Tadlock said State Police Sgt. David Sims was working radar on the north side of Pine Bluff when he clocked a car driven by Rogers at 56 miles per hour in a 30-mph zone.

Tadlock said Sims attempted to stop the vehicle near Woodgate Lane and Oliver Road and the car “zig-zagged around several other vehicles” before turning into the Piney Wood Apartments where Sims called in the pursuit.

“Lt. Donna Fratesi was working security at the apartments and she joined in the pursuit, which ended when the car pulled up to the back gate at L.A. “Prexy” Davis Drive which was locked,” Tadlock said.

After other officers arrived, Rogers, Barker and Benton were removed from the car, Tadlock said, as well as a 16-year-old girl who was in the front passenger seat. An officer reported seeing a bag of marijuana and all four people were arrested.

During an inventory search of the car, Tadlock said police found several more bags of marijuana with a total weight of more than three ounces, along with two loaded pistols, a .38-caliber and a .40-caliber that had been reported stolen in Pine Bluff on July 9.

She said Benton initially told officers his name was Jamal Pridgeon and police started paperwork with that name before a jailer recognized him as Benton.

The judge set $25,000 bonds for Benton because he gave police a false name and because a misdemeanor warrant had been issued for failure to appear in court, and $25,000 for Rogers, who was driving the vehicle and attempted to flee from police. A $10,000 bond was set for Barker.

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