This week in Arkansas crime: A lawmaker resigns, a mayor is indicted and a sheriff’s office explains an AI photo

Week of Aug. 1-7, 2026 | Arkansas Breaking News

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It was a week of Arkansas officials in the docket.

A state representative resigned after a domestic violence arrest. A south Arkansas mayor was arrested by the FBI on a nine-count federal indictment. A police officer was jailed on a domestic battery allegation. And a sheriff’s office spent three days explaining why it ran an evidence photo through artificial intelligence before posting it to Facebook.

Here is what happened across the state between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7.

McCollum resigns from the House

State Rep. Austin McCollum resigned from the Arkansas House of Representatives effective Wednesday, five days after his arrest on domestic violence allegations.

Benton County deputies were called to the 35-year-old Bentonville Republican’s home shortly after midnight Aug. 1. A probable cause affidavit filed Monday in Benton County Circuit Court alleges McCollum blocked his wife from leaving a bedroom, pinned her face down on a bed with his knee against the back of her neck, punched her in the face and slammed her head against the floor. Arkansas Breaking News reported the affidavit in full Aug. 3.

The court found probable cause to hold McCollum on aggravated assault on a household or family member, a Class D felony, first-degree false imprisonment, a Class C felony, and third-degree domestic battering, a Class A misdemeanor. He was released Sunday on a $10,000 bond. A no-contact order signed Aug. 2 bars him from contacting his wife and from possessing firearms or alcohol.

McCollum did not mention the arrest in his resignation letter.

“As I focus on my family, I do not intend to fulfill the remainder of my House term,” he wrote. “I am thankful to the people of House District 8 for the honor of serving all of Arkansas these past nearly 10 years.”

The resignation followed pressure from the top of his own party. House Speaker Brian Evans said Saturday he would convene the House to consider expulsion if McCollum did not step aside. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Attorney General Tim Griffin, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack and Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge all called on him to resign and drop out of his county judge race.

Expulsion would have required a two-thirds vote. The Arkansas Advocate reported that the House has removed a member only twice in state history, in 1837 and in 2019.

McCollum has served in the House since 2017. He won the Republican nomination for Benton County judge in the March 3 primary and faces no opponent in November. His resignation does not affect that candidacy. Sanders’ office said the governor will certify the vacancy and ask both parties to request either a special primary election or a convention of delegates.

McCollum is scheduled to appear at 8 a.m. Sept. 8 in Benton County Circuit Court, Division 1.

Strong mayor arrested by FBI

Strong Mayor Daryell Howell was arrested Tuesday by the FBI on a federal indictment charging him with nine counts tied to his time in office.

A grand jury indicted Howell on July 21 on two counts of extortion under color of official right, five counts of attempted extortion under color of official right and two counts of making materially false statements.

Prosecutors say Howell took or tried to take property that belonged neither to him nor to his office from a city employee and from an independent contractor working with the city. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the indictment dates the extortion of the employee, who is not named, to between Jan. 28, 2022, and Dec. 29, 2023, and the extortion of the contractor to March 28 and May 17, 2024, with additional attempts in June, August, September, October and December of that year.

The indictment also alleges Howell lied to an FBI special agent on June 26, 2025. Prosecutors say he denied offering to prepare personal tax returns for certain city of Strong workers, and denied going to a La Quinta Inn to collect cash from an occupant of a particular city position. The indictment says he knew both statements were false.

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

Strong is a Union County city of roughly 500 people.

Saline County explains an AI-edited evidence photo

The Saline County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged this week that it used artificial intelligence to alter a photograph of seized drugs and cash before posting it on Facebook.

The July 28 post described a traffic stop on a vehicle without insurance. Deputies said they smelled marijuana, searched the car and found more than 2,800 grams of marijuana, 36 grams of ecstasy pills, about $3,000 in cash and drug paraphernalia. The post included a photo of the evidence laid out on a table.

Commenters questioned the image almost immediately, saying the cash and other items looked artificially generated.

In a follow-up post Monday, the office said AI had been used only on the background.

“Yes, AI was used to clean up the background of the photo because it was taken in our patrol room,” the post said. “It was only used as a tool to clean up the background and was not intended for anything else.”

The office published the unedited original, which showed cardboard boxes and paper cups that had been removed from the version it first posted. It said the arrest and the seized items were authentic. A trade publication that reviewed both images reported the edited version also showed visible changes to the evidence on the table.

The episode raises a question that has nothing to do with this particular traffic stop. Agencies across Arkansas post evidence photos to social media as a matter of routine, and those images function as a public record of what officers say they found. Once an agency edits one, the public has to take the agency’s word for where the editing stopped.

Homicide investigations

Warren. Arkansas State Police are investigating the death of Billy Wayne Smith, 53, of Warren. Officers responded to a 911 call at about 12:50 a.m. Wednesday reporting a man on the ground outside an apartment in the 900 block of Halligan Street and found Smith with a gunshot wound. The Bradley County coroner pronounced him dead at the scene. The Warren Police Department asked State Police to take the case.

Cotton Plant. Three people were shot Saturday, Aug. 1, in the 300 block of Susie Avenue. Omari Chapple, 20, died at Unity Health-White County Medical Center in Searcy. Talisha Chapple, 40, was airlifted to Regional One Health in Memphis in stable condition. Annisia Atkins, 22, of Cotton Plant was later found to have been shot as well and remained in critical condition at Regional One. The Woodruff County Sheriff’s Office requested State Police assistance.

Osceola. A 14-year-old was shot and killed Sunday night. His family identified him as Brayden Spinks. Another 14-year-old has been charged with manslaughter.

Southwest Arkansas

Hope police make nine arrests after trail ride. The Hope Police Department responded to a string of incidents Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 stemming from an advertised trail ride held in rural Hempstead County.

Officers were called to the Exxon Superstation on North Hervey Street at 9:49 p.m. for a crowd in the parking lot, returned at 10:32 p.m. for a fight and a larger crowd, and received a report of gunshots at 11:23 p.m. Police said the calls also involved trespassing by four-wheelers and horses on private property, threats, a participant who passed out and an incident in which event security disarmed a person carrying a firearm. Shots fired during the night caused property damage at a Wendy’s.

Nine people were arrested on charges including driving while intoxicated, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, possession of marijuana, minor in possession of alcohol and failure to appear. Hempstead County sheriff’s deputies and Arkansas State Police troopers assisted.

The department said no one was shot, despite social media claims to the contrary.

Neither the city of Hope nor Hempstead County approved the event. A city employee told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette it was not organized with the city. An employee in the county judge’s office said the event had not been approved by county officials and that its rural location made approval through official channels difficult.

Arrest in July homicide. Hope police arrested Kevin Lozano, 19, of Hope on Thursday afternoon in the 900 block of South Elm Street. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree battery in the July 17 shooting death of Gabriel Trujillo Garcia, 21, of Paris, Texas, in the 1000 block of West Seventh Street. A juvenile female was also shot and survived. Lozano is being held at the Hempstead County Detention Facility pending a first court appearance. Sister publication TXKtoday reported the warrant was issued by the 8th North Circuit Court.

In federal court

Todd Curry, 55, an inmate at the Ouachita River Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, pleaded guilty Aug. 4 to seven counts of mailing threatening communications to a federal employee. U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross announced the plea Tuesday for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Curry mailed seven letters from Little Rock on Oct. 7, 2022, to six U.S. senators and then-Vice President Kamala Harris, prosecutors said. The letters threatened to kill or injure the officials and referenced anthrax or ricin, though testing later showed the letters contained neither. Curry is serving a 10-year state sentence on a 2024 drug conviction and faces up to 70 years on the federal counts. U.S. District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky will sentence him at a later date. The U.S. Capitol Police investigated.

A Northwest Arkansas man was sentenced to 15 years for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. A Pulaski County man was sentenced Wednesday to seven years and three months for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Also this week

A Shannon Hills police officer was arrested after Little Rock police alleged he struck his girlfriend and daughter with his service flashlight, then struck himself with it and threw it away.

Former North Little Rock officer Tommy Norman, whose social media following once reached millions, will not contest his decertification as a law enforcement officer. Norman was arrested in September.

A Hot Springs woman faces felony fentanyl and methamphetamine charges filed after a cooperation agreement fell apart.

A teenager was arrested Thursday morning after a shooting in Bryant left one person injured.

Attorney General Tim Griffin announced the arrest of a woman accused of cashing checks belonging to residents of the Lonoke nursing home where she worked.

A lawsuit filed in Benton County Circuit Court accuses a Bentonville photographer of using the Grok artificial intelligence tool to create child sexual abuse material. The suit names xAI.