Pulaski County officials return $60,000 earned from Netflix jail series

LITTLE ROCK — More drama is developing behind the scenes of the Netflix series filmed inside the Pulaski County jail.

The show debuted on the streaming platform two weeks ago, and now county officials have decided to return the $60,000 earned for filming it.

The decision comes as county leaders continue to be unhappy about how Pulaski County Sheriff Eric Higgins responded to their questions regarding how the project came to be.

Since the docuseries Unlocked: A Jail Experiment was released earlier this month, there’s been concern about its legality.

Despite this, the documentary is still one of the most watched on Netflix, garnering over five million views.

The show features Pulaski County inmates being introduced to a new idea: managing themselves without guards in the pods.

Although Netflix has enjoyed global success with the show, the documentary continues to receive criticism back home in Arkansas.

This week, Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde sent a letter to Lucky 8, the series’ production company. In the letter, Hyde wrote that the money was “reimbursement” for the company filming at the jail.

Hyde said the county did not authorize the money, and there was no contract with the company. Now, the money is considered a donation, and it’s being refused.

The county is also asking Higgins for more clarification on his answers to an ordinance.

Last month, the quorum court required the sheriff to answer 40 questions regarding the series, including where filming took place, who is on camera throughout the series, and any signed contracts, agreements, or release forms.

Pulaski County officials asked for clarification on critical or significant occurrences while filming. Higgins said there was an overdose, but the county said that was contradictory to other documents provided that stated there were possible sexual assaults.

There are also questions about who was allowed to participate.

The document said the staff was told no detainees with sex charges could participate, and no detainees could be housed together that were on the same case.

According to information provided to the county, at least one participant was charged with rape, and at least two others were charged as co-defendants in a capital murder case.

Neither the judge nor the sheriff would comment on these issues.

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office said they have received these questions and are working to get answers.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin is also investigating the production of the show.

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Monticello teacher charged with sexually assaulting 15-year-old

LITTLE ROCK —A teacher and children”s volunteer at one of Arkansas” biggest churches accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy told police she would not go further than oral sex so he could “stay pure.”

Reagan Gray, 26, sent naked pictures “on a daily basis” to the boy after beginning the abuse in the fall of 2020 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, once attended by ex-President Bill Clinton.

The church sent her for counseling after the boy”s parents discovered text messages alluding to the affair on their son”s phone but she was welcomed back within weeks and resumed her abuse.

The pair had met in her car and in her Monticello apartment until May 2021 but the boy told investigators he could not remember if he responded to her demands for naked images in response to her torrent of nude photos.

“I don”t have explicit memory of doing that but, with how

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often she requested it, it probably did happen,” he admitted.

Officials at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock warned her off the relationship but she allegedly resumed it after returning from counselling, demanding he send her nude images Gray who was teaching at Little Rock Christian Academy met her alleged victim at the church where he was also a member of the student ministry.

The student told detectives that Gray found out his phone number through the group chat for the church”s music program.

The boy”s parents confronted Gray and informed head pastor Steven Smith after discovering a series of text messages.

Smith said he confronted Gray and suspended her from student ministry despite her insistence that her relationship with the boy was not sexual.

The police were not informed and the church assigned Gray an “accountability partner” in the shape of Smith”s wife, Ashley.

But a police affidavit claims that Gray resumed her abuse after returning from her counselling, switching her communications with the boy to Snapchat.

It was not until a counselling session with Smith in September of last year that Gray admitted the relationship had been “sexual in nature” and had continued after her suspension.

Police were called and the boy told FBI investigators that the pair had relations between five and 10 times during the fall of 2020.

He said Gray performed oral sex on him but the pair did not have intercourse “in order for (him) to stay pure,” the affidavit records.

By then she had been hired as a teacher at Sylvan Hills Middle School in Sherwood but she was suspended by Pulaski County Special School District in February after it learned of the investigation.

Gray was charged with a single felony count of sexual assault teenager between September 2020 and May 2021 and was freed on $20,000 bail after turning herself into Little Rock police on Wednesday.

Her attorney John Ogles said she denied the charge and said he expected her to clear her name.

Gray has been released on $20,000 bail and has denied one felony count of sexual assault. She is due to appear at Little Rock District Court on June 17.

“We trust the judicial system,” he insisted.

Smith resigned from his post earlier this month and interim executive pastor Mark Carter said the case had caused distress to worshippers at the 128-year-old church that routinely attracts nearly 1,000 people to its services.

He said Gray”s arrest had been reported to the church”s new “Caring Well Team”, to “assess the situation and determine what action steps will be taken.”

“We are grieved over this situation, hurting for the young man affected, and praying for all involved,” he wrote.

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$2.5 million bond set in rape case

JONESBORO — A $2.5 million bond was set Friday for a man arrested on suspicion of rape involving multiple victims, according to authorities.

Justin Lynn Totty, 37, of Jonesboro was arrested after an investigation by the Bay Police Department.

According to a probable cause affidavit, officers got a call March 19 about a possible child abuse/sexual assault case that had occurred in Bay.

Two of the victims told the complainant that the incidents happened between Jan. 1 and March 19, when Totty and another person reportedly initiated some form of “game” in which the victims were required to touch Totty and the other person’s genitals.

“They also used sex toys during this game and would record the acts with a cell phone as it occurred,” Bay police said in the affidavit.

“They were also instructed to wear lingerie at times while defendant recorded with a cell phone.”

The Arkansas State Police Crimes against Children Division interviewed the two victims, along with a third victim March 20, about the case. Authorities said they believed the claims were “substantiated” and the investigation continued.

Police later served a search warrant April 24 and found several items that the victims described in their interviews, according to the affidavit.

Totty was arrested on suspicion of rape, any parent who permits a child to engage to sexual explicit conduct, incest and distribute possess viewing matter depicting sexual conduct involving a child.

District Judge David Boling set the $2.5 million bond for Totty, who is set to be arraigned May 24 in circuit court.

Totty was being held in the Craighead County jail Friday, awaiting the court date.