Less Than Ethical Deputy Runs For Sheriff

This is intended for the citizens of Sebastian County, Arkansas. In 2010, Deputy Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck will be running for his department's top job. Before you cast your next vote for Sebastian County Sheriff, there are a few things that I would like to share with you.
On May 2, 1997, three officers came to my apartment in Greenwood, Arkansas Greenwood Police officer Justin Bobbitt and his Sgt., Mike Oliver, and 
Sebastian County Inv. Bill Hollenbeck. The reason for their visit was two-fold; a confidential informant had told Officer Bobbitt that I was dealing "marijuana and other illegal drugs," and my landlord, Kim Scantling, had filed a complaint alleging that I had threatened to do bodily harm to both her and her husband, Charles. The latter resulted in a misdemeanor warrant for the offense of Terroristic Threatening.
When I initially made contact with the officers at my front door, they explained that they were there to "speak" with me about the terroristic threatening allegations. Once inside of my apartment, however, they asked if they could conduct a "parole search" of the residence. Although my parole officer was not present, because I was, in fact, on parole, I assumed that I had no other choice. After giving consent to search, Bill Hollenbeck and I went upstairs to talk while the other two officers began searching my home.
I first met Bill Hollenbeck in the winter of 1992. He pulled me over on Highway 45 because he was searching the area for an associate of mine, a guy named Ron Lane who was wanted in connection of a string of robberies. Fully aware who I was and that I was out on bail with two charges pending (a cocaine distribution charge in Arkansas and a probation violation in California), Hollenbeck offered to "put in a good word" for me if I provided him with information that would lead to Ron's capture. I refused. Several months later, Hollenbeck once again pulled me over, only this time he searched my vehicle for illegal drugs and began asking questions about certain individuals that were known drug dealers in the area. Again, Hollenbeck - knowing that I had charges pending - asked me if I would be willing to cooperate. Again I refused.
I went to prison in Arkansas on Nov. 18, 1993. It is important for me to note that at no time did I ever provide Bill Hollenbeck with information that led to the investigation of, arrest of, or conviction of any individual. The next time that I saw him was on May 2, 1997, when he, Oliver, and Bobbitt came to my apartment in Greenwood.
On the morning of April 29, 1997, my landlord, Kim Scantling, and I did have a heated argument on the telephone about a leak in my apartment and a 
Ninja motorcycle that I sometimes kept in my kitchen when it rained. She didn't want the bike in the house because the floors were new, and I wanted her to fix the upstairs leak and pay for damages that the water had done to my couch. I did call her and her husband some very inappropriate names, but I never threatened them. And that's exactly what I told Hollenbeck. Because he said that he was familiar with Kim and" knew how she was", he did not believe that I had threatened her. However, while they were searching my house, Officer's Bobbitt and Oliver found 1.5 grams of marijuana and two packs of rolling papers - both felony charges in the state of Arkansas. (The marijuana was a class D felony which carried 1 to 5 years imprisonment, and the rolling papers or drug paraphernalia was a class C felony which carried 3 to 10 years imprisonment.)
According to a police report filed by Justin Bobbitt dated 7-21-97, after he and Oliver found marijuana and drug paraphernalia in my apartment, "Inv. Hollenbeck advised Robert of his rights and Robert did agree to cooperate fully with law enforcement to give us information on other illegal drugs in the area." This is totally false.
When Bill Hollenbeck was informed of the officers' findings, he asked them to step outside of the room so he could speak with me in private. At no time did he or any other officer read me my rights. In fact, Hollenbeck made it clear that I would NOT be going to jail that day, in-part because I had a baby in the house with me (my step-son) and he didn't want to get child services involved. But more important, he had a deal that he wanted me to consider.
Hollenbeck started by telling me that his opinion about illegal drugs had changed over the years. He said that he believed the idea of eliminating illegal drugs entirely in Sebastian County was a "lost cause" and that the only thing that mattered to him from a law enforcement perspective was "numbers~ He then made me an offer that wasn't a quid pro quo for the contraband found in my apartment, but rather a partnership that would have allowed me a license to sell drugs in Sebastian County as long as I continued to provide him with information that led to the arrest and convictions of other drug offenders in the area - and I'm not talking about kingpins or big players. I'm talking about drug users and small-time pushers. The way he explained it to me was that he didn't care who the people were or where they were getting their drugs from, as long as arrests were being made.
With two Corvettes in my parking spaces outside, a new Ninja motorcycle in my kitchen, and an apartment full of new furniture and appliances, it was obvious that I wasn't only actively involved in drug dealing, but that I was doing very well at it. However, Hollenbeck never once asked me if I was dealing nor did I confirm or deny it. So, to be clear, he never said ~ you can keep dealing drugs as long as you set people up", but the offer he proposed was not about the small amount of pot and drug paraphernalia that they found in my apartment - it was about a long-term arrangement.
I'm not going to lie. In May of 1997, I was in my prime as far as my career in drug dealing was concerned. There were 3 kilos of cocaine and a large sum of money in my apartment that the officers had missed, I had multiple sources in California that could supply me with any amount or type of drug that I needed, and there were 8 people in Arkansas and several of the surrounding states that were eager to distribute my drugs. It would have been very simple for me to continue my normal operation without ever setting up any of my friends, and just scour the bar scene in Fort Smith looking for drug users or small-time pushers to use as pawns in Bill Hollenbeck's proposed game. He would have been happy, I would have had a license to deal, and I could have continued to live in my fantasy world for quite some time. But I didn't. In fact, when Hollenbeck made his proposal, I never agreed. I did take his advice to “think it over," and I did agree to get back with him - knowing that that wasn't my intension.
When the officers left my house, I immediately contacted my attorney.
On May 8, 1997, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Wendy Johnson recalled my arrest warrant for Terroristic Threatening-2nd degree. I would later learn that she did so at the request of Bill Hollenbeck and Mike Oliver.
On May 29, as I was on my way home from Tunica, Mississippi, I received a phone call from my babysitter, Brandi Nicholsen, who informed me that officer 
Bobbitt had come by the apartment with a warrant for my arrest. When I arrived home later that evening and read a copy of the warrant, I realized it was the same warrant that had been recalled by D.P.A. Johnson weeks earlier, only he had written a note on it that said: “Robert I need you to call me so we can take care of this, J. Bobbitt GW-3 (I work for Hollenbeck )." And he left two telephone numbers [withheld by C.I.].
A review of my telephone records dated May 29, 1997, indicate that I made a total of six phone calls to both numbers between 11:32 and 11:49pm. On one occasion I spoke with Sgt. Oliver who said that Bobbitt was out on patrol and it was imperative that I got in touch with him as soon as possible. Believing that I was about to be arrested because I had not made contact with Hollenbeck, I made arrangements for my child to be taken care of, put all of my cash in a nearby storage facility, and invited Bobbitt to come by my apartment. Around 12:30am, Bobbitt showed up alone.
Bobbitt informed me that Hollenbeck (who was out of town on his honeymoon) had instructed him to stop by my house and "touch base" with me. Up until that point I had never spoken to Bobbitt, and I was unsure what exactly Hollenbeck may have said to him. In order to buy some more time so I could get better prepared to go to jail, I just said that I needed to speak with Hollenbeck in person, and I would wait until he got back into town. Bobbitt then mentioned that a representative for the Department of Human Services (DHS) had been to the Greenwood police Department inquiring about me and my step-son. He said that Hollenbeck and Oliver assured the woman from the DHS that they knew me and that my child was not in any danger. (In a nutshell, my wife Barbara fell under the supervision of the DHS in Izard County Arkansas because she was in a crack house with her son when authorities executed a search warrant. Because I later took him away from her when we separated and I relocated to Sebastian County, the DHS was required to do a follow-up; I was listed as the baby’s sole guardian.) Bobbitt added: "Hollenbeck has really gone to bat for you."
To say that Hollenbeck had gone to bat for me would be incorrect. A more accurate way to describe his actions would be to say that in an attempt to further his career, Hollenbeck took a gamble in hopes that I would become his snitch. This would have made it appeared as though he and the Sebastian County Sheriff's Department were really doing something to tackle the illegal drug problem in their area. Meanwhile, I was not only contributing to Sebastian County's illegal drug problem, but to the entire state of Arkansas's as well. In fact, U.S. Attorney P.K. Holmes Later told reporters that I was a "major distributor in Arkansas" who was responsible for bringing one to two pounds of Methamphetamine into the state every week for 11 months. Yet I was the guy Bill Hollenbeck wanted on his team.
When an officer finds illegal narcotics in the home of someone who is on parole the officer has an ethical duty as well as a moral obligation to deal with the situation in a way that is best to ensure the safety of his community. Hollenbeck knew that I wasn't just some petty drug dealer, and he knew that I was a habitual drug offender as well as a drug user who was on parole. As soon as he became aware that there was a warrant out for my arrest, and most certainly as soon as his officers found illegal drugs in my home, he had an obligation to the community - as well as to me - to take me off of the streets, And equally important, he had a duty to report my [alleged] criminal behavior to the State Parole Office. But he didn't. Instead, he advised me NOT to tell my parole officer about the warrant or the drugs that were found in my home because I would have automatically been sent back to prison. Hollenbeck wanted me out.
As a person who was on state parole, I had an obligation to notify my parole officer anytime that I came into contact with law enforcement- it was one of my terms and conditions of parole. As soon as Hollenbeck, Oliver, and Bobbitt left my apartment on May 2, I contacted my attorney and explained exactly what had happened. I told him about Hollenbeck's proposal, and I made it clear that I was not interested in becoming an informant. My attorney informed me that even if I wanted to snitch, Hollenbeck was not authorized to make such a deal because, technically, I was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parole. Therefore, any deals made would have to have been approved through my parole officer, Paul Larcade. In the words of my attorney, what Hollenbeck was attempting to do was "not legal." I was advised to report the incident to my parole officer and be prepared to go to jail.
Shortly after June 1, I moved out of the Greenwood apartment. Although I continued to report to my parole officer as required, I did not mention anything about the incident with Hollenbeck - and neither did Hollenbeck. I just continued to go about business as usual, believing that someday I would have to deal with it in court.
Pursuant to a multi-state drug trafficking investigation, on August 12, 1997, local, state, and federal authorities arrested me at my home in Hunington, 
Arkansas. Among the officers who conducted a search of my property, was Bill Hollenbeck. I chose to remain silent and cooperated with none of them.
On April 2, 1998, a federal jury in Fort Smith found me guilty of "Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine". According to the governments own witnesses, between May 2 (the day Hollenbeck should have arrested me) and August 12, I was responsible for distributing more than 8-kilos of meth in Arkansas. Although the government's witnesses did lie about the type and quantity of drugs that I sold, the truth is that I did sell a lot of illegal drugs in and around the state of Arkansas. I wonder how many lives in Sebastian County alone were ruined or in some way affected because of the drugs that I sold, drugs that would have not made it into Sebastian County had Hollenbeck not made a poor and unethical decision to allow me to remain free.
I am currently serving Life Without Parole for the aforementioned drug conspiracy and I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the citizens of Sebastian County. In the past few years I have come to realize just how harmful illegal drugs are, and how they destroy individuals, families, and society in general. I'm not only ashamed and embarrassed by past actions, but I am truly sorry for all of the pain that I've caused to so many families, including my own. Again, I am sorry.
The most important thing that voters of Sebastian County need to ask themselves before considering Hollenbeck for Sheriff is how many more poor choices did he make that you don't know about - decisions that put each and everyone of you in danger. Because if you don't believe that one known drug dealer who was out on parole and actively involved in dealing drugs was a threat to your safety, then you're not considering all of the crimes that are associated with illegal drug use and the illegal drug trade - property crimes, robbery, armed robbery, violence, gang violence, prostitution, and even murder. Additionally, voters may want to consider using Hollenbeck’s mistake to urge law makers to create new laws that govern the way law enforcement agents use potential drug informants. As it stands, more often than not, drug informants are nothing more than criminals with a license to deal. How does that make your community more safe?