HOT SPRINGS — A Hot Springs husband and wife are each facing a felony robbery charge carrying up to 20 years in prison over two packs of cigar wraps worth $1.19 apiece, according to charges filed this week in Garland County Circuit Court.
Buck Arron Biddle, 40, and Elisah Michelle Shewbirt, 40, both of 720 Elkhorn Loop, were charged July 28 in separate but parallel cases.
Biddle faces robbery, a Class B felony, along with misdemeanor counts of theft of property and first-degree criminal mischief. Shewbirt faces robbery and theft of property. Prosecuting Attorney Michelle C. Lawrence of the 18th Judicial District East filed both.
The robbery count carries five to 20 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections and a fine of up to $15,000. Each misdemeanor carries up to a year in county jail.
Both are set for plea and arraignment Aug. 4 at 1:30 p.m. before Division IV at the Garland County Detention Center.
What police say happened
According to a probable cause affidavit signed by a Hot Springs police detective, an officer responded to Tobacco Town at 1910 Albert Pike about 2:22 p.m. on June 7 for a reported robbery.
The store manager told police a man later identified as Biddle had come through the drive-through about 12 minutes earlier. He ordered two packs of Montego cigarettes, an energy drink and two Pom Pom cigar packs.
The cashier working the drive-through left one of the cigar packs out of the order, the affidavit says. She refunded the purchase on the register and told Biddle the second pack would have to be rung up separately.
Biddle became upset and said he would not pay for the cigar packs because the error was the cashier’s, according to the affidavit. He was told to leave. Instead, police say, he pulled around to the front of the business with Shewbirt in the vehicle.
Shewbirt walked in first and told the cashiers her husband was upset and was coming inside, the affidavit says.
Biddle then entered, walked behind the counter into the employee-only area and took an unpaid cigar pack valued at $1.19, according to the document. Both cashiers confronted him.
Police say Biddle shoved one cashier with his shoulder and told her that if she tried to stop him, he would punch her in the face. On his way out he knocked over a plastic lottery ticket dispenser valued at $20, the affidavit says.
As Biddle headed for the door, Shewbirt took a second unpaid cigar pack valued at $1.19 from the counter, according to police. She then blocked the cashiers from following him outside and pushed the second cashier away from the door.
The cashiers told police that Biddle told Shewbirt to knock the second cashier out if she tried to intervene.
Both left with a cigar pack each. Total value of the merchandise: $2.38.
A detective returned to the store on June 12 and asked to photograph the lottery dispenser. The manager said it had already been replaced. It broke when it hit the floor.
Why both face the felony
Arkansas robbery law does not require a theft to be large, or even completed. Under state code, a person commits robbery if, in the course of committing or resisting apprehension for a theft of any amount, they use or threaten immediate physical force, or create a circumstance that would make a reasonable person believe force is imminent.
The statute also reaches people acting together. Both charging documents use the phrase “acting alone or with another person,” which allows the state to charge an accomplice with the same felony as the person who applied the force.
The two misdemeanor counts unique to Biddle cover the $1.19 cigar pack and the broken $20 lottery dispenser.
The cases so far
A Garland County district judge signed arrest warrants for both on June 15 after finding probable cause.
Biddle was arrested June 17 on Hughes Road. His arrest report lists bail at $12,000, though the circuit court file and his bond both reflect $5,000. He posted bond through H&H Bail Bond Co. of Hot Springs on June 22.
Shewbirt was arrested June 30 at the Garland County Detention Center. Her bail was set at $11,000 and she posted bond through the same company the same day.
Neither reported any prior felony convictions or any current probation or parole on their bail bond determination forms.
A charge is an accusation. Both are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
