Charges have been filed in the bomb threat made last month against the Batesville Walmart.
According to documents filed Wednesday in Independence County Circuit Court, the Batesville police investigative division says 39-year-old Jonathan D. Conway (pictured below, left), and 38-year-old Stephanie Nicole Carroll (right), were apparently disgruntled customers and accuses them of making the threat by cell phone soon after they had left the store June 20.
Authorities said Walmart management leaders were advised to evacuate all employees and customers from the store after the threat, which they did. Then, explosive detection K9s from the North Little Rock Police Department were called to the scene to help determine if a bomb did exist. No bomb was found. (Click here for the story from June.)
According to the arrest affidavit, the Walmart employee who had taken the call was asked by the male caller if they had been working hard. The employee replied in the affirmative, and then the male caller said “Good because I’m about to blow the store up.” The Walmart employee told authorities the male caller appeared to have a foreign accent.
Another employee told officers they had been working in the self-check area that night and had assisted Jonathan Conway. A woman identified as Conway’s wife — Stephanie Carroll — and their children were on a different self-checkout line, the Walmart staffer said. The employee informed investigators they were told to watch Stephanie Carroll because she had allegedly tried to walk out of the store without paying for her items. The employee also noticed Carroll seemed to be scanning items with tampered barcodes and told police that after she was approached for what she was doing, Carroll said her husband would be irritated because it was taking so long. The affidavit said Carroll “acted clueless” about the issue and then left the store without buying the items with the tampered barcodes.
After Stephanie Carroll left the store, Walmart employees said it was 10 to 15 minutes later when the bomb threat was received.
The arrest affidavit said the cell phone used to make the call showed “anonymous caller,” but the service provider helped police identify the user as Stephanie N. Carroll. Store video also showed Conway picking up Carroll and the children outside the store and then pulling his vehicle into the parking lot where it sat for a period of time before finally leaving, the affidavit said.
Through a search warrant, Batesville Police Department investigators obtained information that the cell phone number was that of Carroll’s, and that that number called Walmart at 7:38 p.m. — the approximate time of the bomb threat call, according to the affidavit.
The court information also says that restitution is owed to Walmart in the amount of $46,489.
Both suspects were charged with “Making a Terrorist Threat” — a Class A felony.
Jonathan D. Conway is also being charged under the habitual offender law since he has been previously convicted of four (4) or more felonies.
Batesville Police told White River Now that Conway and Carroll were arrested on Thursday. They are both currently incarcerated at the Independence County Jail. Judge Chaney Taylor set bond on Jonathan D. Conway at $200,000 while Stephanie N. Carroll’s bond was set at $150,000.
A conviction on the charge of “Making a Terrorist Threat” is punishable by imprisonment of not less than 6 and up to 30 years, and a fine not to exceed $15,000 or both a fine and imprisonment.
Images via Independence County Sheriff’s Department
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