Lawsuit filed to halt temporary casino

RUSSELLVILLE — Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) and Pope County jointly filed a lawsuit in Pope County Circuit Court on Tuesday asking a judge to prevent Gulfside Casino Partnership from attempting to build a downsized casino that is not authorized under its casino license.

A temporary casino facility was planned by Gulfside Casino Partnership along Bradley Cove Road just outside the Russellville city limits.

While the planning commission approved this development in its meeting on Sept. 28, Gulfside Casino Partnership did not include a temporary facility in its application to the Arkansas Racing Commission.

A temporary casino facility has been placed for all three of the other casinos in Arkansas – including casinos in Jefferson, Garland and Crittenden counties.

“Today, Cherokee Nation Businesses and Pope County jointly filed a lawsuit in Pope County Circuit Court asking a judge to prevent Gulfside Casino Partnership from attempting to build a downsized casino that is not authorized under any casino license, was not included in their application nor presentation to the Racing Commission, and is not even located on the same property connected to their original proposed project,” Dustin McDaniel, legal counsel for Cherokee Nation Businesses, said in a statement released Tuesday.

“In July, we presented evidence to the Commission that questioned Gulfside’s intent or ability to construct or operate the proposed project. In response, Gulfside’s attorney stated that the license could be revoked by the Commission if Gulfside does not build what they promised to build,” McDaniel stated.

“Nonetheless, only weeks later, Gulfside presented to the City of Russellville’s Planning Commission project plans for a significantly smaller casino with no hotel at all. Either Gulfside believes their license will allow this version of a casino or they believe the Commission will take action to allow it. The County and CNB are asking a court to make clear that neither option is legally possible,” McDaniel said.

“This is an issue for the Arkansas Racing Commission, not the courts,” Casey Castleberry, attorney for Gulfside Casino Partnership, said in an email Wednesday afternoon.

“Like Sarcaren in Pine Bluff, Gulfside’s River Valley Annex would provide nearly 300 jobs and millions in revenue for the City of Russellville during the construction of our first-class resort,” Castleberry stated. “This lawsuit has no merit and would only serve to stifle future economic growth.”

“Pope County deserves a responsible operator that has a stellar track record of keeping promises made to communities, employees and local vendors. While there are many legal proceedings left in this process, our commitment to Pope County and securing the casino license has never been greater,” Chuck Garrett, CEO of Cherokee Nation Business said in the statement.

“We remain grateful for the exclusive and unwavering support of Pope County Judge Ben Cross and his commitment to securing the best fit for Pope County pursuant to Amendment 100. We also want to thank the community at large for the continued outpouring of support. We take to heart each letter, email and social media message received, as well as every conversation had at our office in downtown Russellville,” Garrett said.

Pope County Judge Ben Cross sent The Courier an email statement on the lawsuit on Wednesday.

“Throughout this entire process to license a casino in Pope County, I have had a legal constitutional mandate to maintain fiduciary responsibility for the best interests of our county; and while the majority of Pope County residents initially rejected the premise of a casino being located in our community, nevertheless, the state of Arkansas voted otherwise and we were left with assessing the situation and moving forward to select the best operator.

“After an exhaustive vetting process in which Legends, LLC, was ultimately chosen as the operator of choice by Pope county officials, the Arkansas Racing Commission neglected to act in the best fiduciary interests of the State of Arkansas by selecting an inferior applicant,

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even after their own independent consultant unanimously supported the selection of Legends, LLC, as well,” Cross said.

“This egregious act funded at taxpayer expense, combined with an unanimous finding of bias within the ranks of the racing commission itself, has now brought about the intention of the current license holder to construct a ‘temporary annex casino,’” Cross said.

“This is simply unacceptable, and the very action we sought to eliminate by our selection of vendor.”

Cross said Gulfside owner Terry Green stated before the Racing Commission on June 18 that his casino would be constructed in a single phase, and Gulfside made promises of grandeur and future expansion to the commission, “only to be checked by reality with his submission of a minimalist operation to the Russellville Planning Commission on Sept. 28.”

Area residents are already referring to it as the “truckstop casino,” Cross said.

“Therefore, this action is taken to safeguard our community against actions which have no definition or scope of time, and which ultimately will have a less than promised economic impact,” Cross said of the lawsuit.

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PINE BLUFF — A Faulkner County jury of eight women and four men deliberated for two hours and 20 minutes before sentencing Tacori D. Mackrell to life in prison without parole.

The 20-year-old Pine Bluff man cried heavily and his family wept at the back of the courtroom late Wednesday afternoon as Judge Troy Braswell read aloud the jury’s verdict.

Mackrell faced either life in prison or the death penalty for kidnapping and killing Elvia Fragstein, 72, of Wooster.

Mackrell was 18 years old when he killed the Wooster woman. His cousin, Robert L. Smith III, was 16 at the time and has been charged as an adult with capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and theft of property. Smith’s trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 2.

Defense attorneys William “Bill” James Jr. and Jeff Rosenzweig said they were pleased with the outcome of the case.

“We started this case wanting life,” James said.

Before the jury began deliberating, the defense attorney pleaded for mercy. “Mercy is given, not necessarily deserved. We’re asking for mercy,” James said.

“Your vote for life means no one else dies.”

Twentieth Judicial District Prosecutor Carol Crews said she and senior deputy prosecutor John Hout respected the jury’s decision and dedication to serving on this case.

“It was an honor to fight for this family and for this community,” Crews said.

“Justice was done. Tacori Mackrell was found guilty on all charges.”

Mackrell was found guilty as charged – capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and theft of property – last week and ultimately sentenced at 4:42 p.m. Wednesday.

Once the circuit judge read aloud the jury’s verdict and the jury had been excused, Mackrell said he wanted to apologize to Fragstein’s family.

“One thing I do want to say – I want to tell Mrs.

Fragstein’s family I’m truly sorry and I hope they forgive me,” Mackrell said.

The defense team spoke outside the courthouse

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about the case and said they believed Mackrell has matured since he killed Fragstein.

Through it’s own investigation, the defense team located two of Mackrell’s siblings that he had never met before. The brothers were taken by the Department of Human Services from Mackrell’s mother before he was born and later were adopted.

“Within 24 hours they had established a relationship,” Rosenzweig said of finding Mackrell’s siblings.

Mackrell and the two brothers call each other often and met for the first time during Mackrell’s capital murder trial.

Jurors were tasked with 121 mitigating factors when determining whether Mackrell would be sentenced to life or death.

The jury agreed prosecutors had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mackrell killed Fragstein for pecuniary gain and an especially cruel manner and that these aggravating factors outweighed all the mitigating factors submitted by the defense team.

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JONESBORO — Four Northeast Arkansas men face child sex crime charges after they were arrested within two days.

The Homeland Security Investigations Child Exploitation Investigations Unit received a tip that Earl Chapman, 66, Bono, was “possibly sexually assaulting” a child under five 5 years old in Bono, the Jonesboro Police announced Wednesday.

The details of the allegation made by Arkansas State University Police were unavailable as Lt.

Eric Thrasher was not in district court Friday. The probable cause affidavit was not provided to The Sun.

Child porn was found on one of Chapman’s electronic devices and he was subsequently arrested, according to police. His apprehension was part of a joint probe by HSI and the Northeast Arkansas Human Trafficking Task Force.

District Court Judge David Boling found probable cause Friday to charge him with distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.

A $500,000 cash or surety bond was set for Chapman.

In January, JPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit was alerted to Dale Doss, 52, of Turrell, “interacting in a suspicious manner” with a 14-year-old girl on Facebook.

Doss disclosed in the messages that he was aware of her age and continued to contact her. According to the probable cause affidavit, the conversation picked back up on Oct. 5, when he asked the girl to sneak out to ride side-bysides.

“The conversation soon turns sexual,” it reads.

“Doss asks the juvenile details about (her) sexual history and begins asking if he could perform various sex acts with her.”

Doss also sent a sexually explicit photo to the girl and tried to meet with her.

He was arrested Thursday.

Boling found probable cause to charge Doss with internet stalking of a child and computer child pornography, both Class B felonies. A $500,000 cash or surety bond was set for him.

In September, ICAC was made aware that Lowell Caraker, 25, of Bono, was messaging a 14-year-old girl on Facebook as well, according to a sworn document.

Knowing the girl’s age, Caraker asked her “graphic, detailed questions” about

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her sexual experiences and if he could have sex with her, the affidavit states.

He continued messaging the girl explicit content even after he said, “I could get in trouble.”

Caraker was arrested Thursday and held on a computer child pornography charge. Boling set a $250,000 cash or surety bond as part of his pre-trial release.

Jeffrey Borden, 64, of Jonesboro, was being held on a $1 million bond for rape and sexual indecency with a child after police say he “made inappropriate contact” with three girls – age 11, 12 and 14 – in a hotel room this month. Police learned of the incident on Oct. 5, when the victims’ parents told officers that they were allowed to visit with Borden for dinner and swimming at the Fairview Inn a day earlier, the narrative read. One of the victims, 14, told a woman at school what happened.

When trying on bathing suits at Target, the teen described a disturbing conversation with Borden.

Among the items Borden purchased at Target were a white bra, thong panties and unitard; and a drinking card game with “sexual quotes on it.” Borden took photos of the girls swimming at the hotel and the 14-year-old’s genital area in the unitard.

While the girls were playing the drinking card game with him, he touched the girls’ genitals above and underneath their clothing, according to police.

All of the men are scheduled to appear in court Nov. 24 at the Craighead County Courthouse.