Engine trouble for a truck on Main Street in Mountain View just before 1 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 6, led to the driver being charged with three drug-related felonies and two misdemeanor traffic violations.
The truck’s driver, Richard Clayton Branscum, 28, told officers Kenneth Francis and Jonathan Arnold that he had a pistol lying on the truck’s floorboard. It was found and confiscated. A check with the Arkansas Crime Information Center found Branscum was driving on a suspended license and with expired vehicle tags. Illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia were also found in the vehicle.
Branscum was taken to jail and has been charged in Stone County Circuit Court with simultaneous possession of drugs and a firearm, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia (all felonies), and driving on a suspended license and an expired vehicle license.
Branscum’s bond was set at $35,000.
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