Detective From Aaron Spencer Case, Jail Deputy Charged With Sexual Assault Among 25 Officers Facing Decertification Before State Panel This Week

LITTLE ROCK — The Lonoke County detective whose handling of a dash-camera memory card got the murder case against Aaron Spencer thrown out, a Pulaski County jail deputy charged with sexually assaulting a woman in his custody and a Batesville officer accused of leading a fellow officer on a 90 mph chase are among 25 former officers that Arkansas police agencies want stripped of their state certification when the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training meets Tuesday and Wednesday.

The two-day session at Arkansas State Police headquarters is the commission’s longest agenda of the year. The 38-item agenda also carries three requests from decertified officers who want their badges back, three departments asking to withdraw decertification cases they filed more than a year ago, four officers who have signed consent orders, 11 contested hearings and a compliance complaint against the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, which has had no jail since December.

Arkansas Breaking News reported Friday on one of the 25, former Little Rock officer Kyle Dishman, who ran his girlfriend’s license plate 28 times in the department’s Flock camera system before he was fired in July. Court records and prior commission filings fill in several of the others.

How the process works

The commission, known as CLEST, licenses every law enforcement officer in Arkansas. When an agency fires an officer or accepts a resignation during an internal investigation, it can ask the commission to revoke the officer’s certification, which bars the person from working as an officer anywhere in the state. Under the commission’s rules, the grounds include leaving a job over conduct punishable by law, being dismissed for violating agency rules, resigning while under investigation, excessive force, dishonesty and violating the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics.

At each meeting the commissioners first vote on the new recommendations, deciding whether each one goes to a contested hearing at a later meeting, is tabled for more information or is dropped. Officers can skip the hearing by signing a consent order, which the commission then accepts with a final vote to decertify. An officer who is decertified can later ask the commission for recertification, which the rules leave to the commission’s discretion. The minutes show those requests are usually denied.

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Lonoke County: the detective from the Aaron Spencer case

The Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department recommends decertifying former Deputy Robbie McCain. McCain was the lead detective in the prosecution of Aaron Spencer, the Lonoke County father charged with second-degree murder after he shot and killed Michael Fosler, the man accused of molesting Spencer’s teenage daughter, in October 2024.

Special Circuit Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. dismissed the charge against Spencer on June 4 in a 19-page order, finding that the sheriff’s office had failed to preserve a memory card from a dash camera in Fosler’s truck. Spencer’s lawyers argued the card held evidence that supported his claim that the shooting was justified, the Arkansas Times reported. They said McCain removed the camera without documenting its position, pulled the card out and viewed it on his own laptop before sending the camera to the attorney general’s digital forensics unit, never photographed or logged the card as separate evidence, and waited more than a year after Spencer’s arrest to log the camera at all. The card was never found.

Wilson wrote that the violations amounted to a “pattern of policy and procedure violations and gives the appearance of a coverup,” the Times reported, and that “conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted.” Prosecutors had denied any wrongdoing and pointed to McCain’s testimony that he saw nothing on the card that would have helped Spencer.

Two days after the dismissal, the sheriff’s office told KATV that McCain “was terminated for policy violations.” The department did not say whether the firing was tied to the Spencer case. Spencer, who defeated the incumbent sheriff in the March Republican primary, is on the November ballot for Lonoke County sheriff.

Pulaski County: jail deputy charged with sexual assault

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office recommends decertifying former detention deputy LeRon Foreman, 35, who is charged in Pulaski County Circuit Court with second-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony. The information, filed Sept. 22, lists the offense date as May 11.

The sheriff’s office file sent to the commission, published by the Snarky Media Report, says a woman transported from the White County jail to the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility for a court hearing reported after her return to White County that Foreman had groped her and forced sexual contact in his office. Investigators interviewed Foreman May 15, the file says, and he was fired and arrested the same day. Court records show he was released on a surety bond.

Foreman pleaded not guilty in district court in July. His attorney, Ronald L. Davis Jr., filed a motion Oct. 2 to suppress a statement Foreman gave investigators, arguing it was taken without proper warnings and, “otherwise, any statement the government attributes to the defendant is a fabrication.” The state’s witness list includes two women and four sheriff’s office employees, and the discovery inventory lists a 43-page statement from Foreman and jail transport and headcount records. He is set for arraignment before Circuit Judge Andrew Gill on Oct. 19.

Batesville: officer charged with fleeing after a chase

The Batesville Police Department recommends decertifying two former officers, Miguel Romero and Oscar Salas. Romero, 32, was off duty when he led his own department on a five-mile chase the night of July 19, Arkansas State Police said the next day. He was booked on felony fleeing, aggravated assault, driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, placed on administrative leave and moved to the Jackson County jail. He is charged in Independence County Circuit Court with fleeing in a vehicle, a Class D felony, and a state police investigator’s affidavit filed two days after the chase gives the details.

According to the affidavit, Batesville Officer Samuel Stone drove Romero to a home on Buckeye Street that night so he could pick up clothing after an argument with his girlfriend. Stone smelled alcohol on him, the affidavit says, and the argument resumed inside. Romero asked Stone to carry his personal rifle out of the house, and the girlfriend told Stone that Romero had a handgun and was leaving in his own vehicle. Stone could not stop him from driving off.

Stone pursued with lights and siren at speeds of 90 mph along White Drive toward Moorefield for 4.9 miles, the affidavit says. Romero pulled into a parking lot and turned off his lights at one point, then slowed near the Crown Colony subdivision, where Stone used a tactical vehicle intervention to force him to stop. Romero was “initially non-compliant” but was arrested without further incident. In a recorded interview he admitted drinking and driving but denied fleeing, saying he slowed down when he saw the blue lights and was rear-ended by the patrol car.

Romero was released on a professional bond July 24 and is represented by Mathew Dellinger. The court file does not mention Salas, the second Batesville officer on the agenda, and no criminal case under his name appears in state court records. The department has not said publicly why it referred him.

Hackett: battery conviction on appeal

The Hackett Police Department recommends decertifying former Officer Levi Thomas, 38, who was convicted in March of third-degree battery for a June 2025 traffic stop and is awaiting a new trial on appeal.

A Sebastian County sheriff’s lieutenant wrote in the arrest affidavit that Thomas, while talking with a deputy in Hackett on June 18, 2025, pointed out a passing vehicle and said a woman riding in it had a possible warrant. The deputy stopped the vehicle outside the city limits. Thomas then arrived “outside of his jurisdiction,” the affidavit says, and when the woman refused to get out while the warrant was still unconfirmed, he reached through the window to unlock the door, unbuckled her, pulled her out by the arms, spun her and pushed her against the truck, then put her in an arm-bar that left her crying out in pain.

When she said he was hurting her, the affidavit says, Thomas replied, “I’m going to keep hurting you until you get in.” Asked what she had done, he answered, “Other than being retarded?” She had an abrasion and hand-print marks on her right arm.

Thomas resigned from the Hackett department July 18, 2025, days before his arrest, KHBS/KHOG reported after obtaining the deputy’s body-camera video. He changed his plea to guilty in Sebastian County District Court in Greenwood on March 11 and received a one-year suspended sentence, a $500 fine, an order to complete anger management and a no-contact order. Two days later he appealed to circuit court, which gives him a new trial. His jury trial before Circuit Judge R. Gunner DeLay has been continued twice and is now set for Dec. 7.

Little Rock: a second officer, back for a second look

Besides Dishman, the Little Rock Police Department is again asking the commission to decertify former Officer Blake Hampton, 28. The department first brought his case in June, when the commissioners voted that “more information was needed to make a decision.” The department has not said publicly why it wants him decertified.

Pulaski County court records show Hampton’s wife petitioned for an order of protection against him Feb. 3. Circuit Judge Brent Eubanks granted a temporary order the next day; the form lists his employer as the Little Rock Police Department at its West 12th Street station and bars him from her home and workplace. She asked the court to dismiss the petition March 10, and it was dismissed without prejudice the next day. Hampton filed for divorce the day after that, and the decree was entered May 11. Whether the protective order is connected to the department’s request is not stated in any public record.

The rest of the list

The remaining recommendations are the first public confirmation that these departments have referred the officers. None of the agencies has announced the firings, and no criminal case under these names appears in state court records unless noted:

• Prairie County Sheriff’s Office: former deputies Brook Cole and Bo Hunt.
• Maumelle Police Department: former Officer Cody Oliver, who was still listed as the citing officer on Maumelle district court cases filed as late as Aug. 6.
• Smackover Police Department: former Officer Zachary Craig.
• Jonesboro Police Department: former officers Jeremy Wheelis and Christopher Jefferson.
• Arkansas County Sheriff’s Department: former Deputy Kent Childers.
• University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff: former Officer Lugene Boyd.
• Fairfield Bay Police Department: former Officer William Kelley.
• Centerton Police Department: former Officer Edgar Martinez.
• White Hall Police Department: former Officer Neil Brasse.
• Pine Bluff Police Department: former Officer Alex Thrower.
• Hot Spring County Sheriff’s Department: former Deputy Michael Davis. The commission tabled this request in April “until further information can be received.”
• Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office: former Deputy Maurica Bennett.
• Benton Police Department: former Officer Sean Stroud.
• West Fork Police Department: former Officer Donald McCullough.
• Cabot Police Department: former Officer Zac Brown.
• Franklin County Sheriff’s Office: former Officer Bradley Pitts. A Lt. Brad Pitts led the Sept. 8 search of the Charleston property in the 17-count animal cruelty case Arkansas Breaking News reported last month.

Three departments want out of cases they started

Pine Bluff police ask to withdraw their decertification request against Octavian Sims, which the department filed in March 2025, the same month Mayor Vivian Flowers fired Chief Denise Richardson. Pine Bluff tried once before: in May 2025 it asked to withdraw its cases against Sims, Julia Hilliard and John Woods, then pulled Sims and Woods back out of the request before the vote. Hilliard’s case was withdrawn, and she later won reinstatement and a $95,000 settlement from the city. The commission declined to decertify Woods after a hearing last November. Sims is still listed for a hearing Wednesday if the commission refuses the withdrawal.

West Memphis police ask to withdraw their January 2025 request against Anquion Williams, who is listed for a hearing Tuesday. The Dardanelle Police Department asks to withdraw the request it filed against Josh Kelley in July 2025, which never reached a hearing. The commission does not always grant such requests: in June it refused to let the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office withdraw a case, held the hearing anyway and then declined to decertify the deputy.

Three decertified officers want back in

DeQuante Body asks for recertification four months after the commission decertified him by unanimous vote June 9. The Sherwood Police Department, whose officers arrested him, asked the commission to decertify him in March 2025.

Pulaski County court records show Sherwood officers found Body, then 27, working as a school security officer at LISA Academy on Feb. 27, 2024, and took his gun. He told detectives he worked for the Cotton Plant Police Department; the detectives told him Cotton Plant’s chief said he was not on the department’s roster and that he had been fired by the Menifee Police Department that January. Body said he had not yet been sworn in. Prosecutors charged him with buying or selling police blue lights, two counts of possessing a firearm on school property, first-degree criminal impersonation and misdemeanor theft, which his attorney later wrote related to his possession of a Menifee Police Department ID. In April 2025 he entered a negotiated plea to the theft count, prosecutors dropped the four felonies, and he was placed on a year’s probation. The court later ordered the return of his police shirt, vest, two Glock pistols and other gear, but not the blue lights.

Luke Roe, decertified after a contested hearing in July 2023 on a referral from the Trumann Police Department, is making his third try. His May 2025 request was rescheduled and his July 2025 request was withdrawn. Jacob Dane, a former Saline County deputy who was decertified by consent agreement in July 2021, had a recertification request on the August agenda and is back again; the August minutes have not been posted.

Consent orders and hearings

Four officers are listed as having signed consent orders, which the commission will accept with a final vote to decertify. Jason Bullock is a former Garland County Sheriff’s Office officer whose decertification the sheriff’s office requested in August. Jimmy Bruce is formerly of the Marmaduke Police Department, which referred him in June.

Lizbeth Cervantes, listed as Lizeth Cervantes in the commission’s June records, was fired by the Bentonville Police Department on Feb. 23 after an internal investigation into a January domestic disturbance with another officer in Bella Vista, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported from the decertification file. The file said she went to the other officer’s home after being told not to, pushed past the officer to get inside and stayed 30 to 40 minutes. The other officer did not want to press charges, and no arrest was made.

Joshua Waldrum, 37, is a former Clark County deputy and jail administrator who worked for the Prescott Police Department from February to May of this year. Prescott police accused him of taking more than $1,300 worth of fellow officers’ equipment from the department’s squad room, with the thefts caught on surveillance video, The Arkadelphian reported. He had gone back to work for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, which fired him June 11 when the charges became known, and he was arrested June 16. In September he pleaded no contest in Nevada County Circuit Court to felony breaking or entering and received three years’ probation under the First Offender Act, a $500 fine and $400 in restitution; the plea deal included a consent order giving up his certification, the newspaper reported.

The 11 contested hearings are a backlog of referrals from early 2025. Set for Tuesday: Terryice Hewing and Hollie Whitlock, both former Sebastian County deputies whose hearings were carried over from August; Christopher Schmeckenbecher, a former Springdale school resource officer who resigned in April 2025 after the school district reported possible inappropriate computer use, which a police forensic analysis found included stories tagged with warnings such as “Underage Sex” and “Molestation” but nothing prosecutable, the Democrat-Gazette reported; Emil Iverson, a former Mountain Home officer referred in May 2025 for reasons the department has not made public; and Williams. Set for Wednesday: Michael D’Agostino, Rodrigo Roque and Daniel Nacalaban, three of the six Fort Smith night-shift officers the department fired in January 2025 after an internal investigation into hazing, which KNWA reported included officers pointing loaded guns at one another and threatening to withhold backup; Tyrus Harris, a former Little Rock officer referred in March 2025; Christopher Miller, referred by the Cross County Sheriff’s Office in May 2025; and Sims. Fort Smith asked in August to withdraw its cases against two of the other fired officers, Seth Dominic and Johnne Le.

Monroe County, Wabbaseka and a school police force

The commission’s standards division asks to “address compliance issues” with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. The agenda does not say what the issues are. The county emptied its jail in Clarendon at the end of December after the Association of Arkansas Counties declined to renew its liability coverage, citing unmet 2024 recommendations to fix the aging building, hire more jailers and provide more training; KATV reported in July that the jail was still closed, no insurer had made an offer, and Sheriff Michael Neal said the county had paid other counties $20,000 to hold its inmates. In August the commission’s agenda included the sheriff’s request to withdraw a decertification case against former Deputy Austin Wolfe; the outcome has not been posted.

The City of Wabbaseka in Jefferson County asks the commission to reactivate its police department. The commission already did that once, in September 2023; no public record explains when or why the department went inactive again. The Western Yell County School District asks to create its own police department under Act 629 of 2019, which the commission approved for the Lavaca School District in June.

Four routine requests round out the agenda: the Stamps and Brinkley police departments each ask the commission to waive the 24-month waiting period and extend the training deadline for an officer, and the Garland County Sheriff’s Office and Forrest City Police Department ask for training extensions. Forrest City’s request for Officer Logan Johnson was on the August agenda as well.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday at One State Police Plaza Drive in Little Rock. The Department of Public Safety typically posts a summary of the votes within a day or two of the session.