Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Abel arrested

Former Congressional Candidate Arrested

By Kate Ward KWARD@NWAONLINE.COM 

FAYETTEVILLE — A man who got more than 35,380 votes to represent Northwest Arkansas in Congress in 2008 was jailed Monday night, accused of delivering illegal hallucinogenic mushrooms to a confi dential informant working with police.

    Able Noah Tomlinson, 29, of 915 W. Lawson St. in Fayetteville faces a felony charge in connection with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance (psilocybin mushrooms) based on purchases police recorded in September.

According to a preliminary arrest report, Bentonville 
investigators informed Fayetteville police Sept. 1 an informant made arrangements with Tomlinson to purchase 2 ounces of mushrooms.

A detective and the informant drove to Tomlinson’s house about 8 p.m. that night when the informant purchase a half-ounce of mushrooms using $120 cash from the 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force.

    The informant made a second purchase from Tomlinson on Sept. 24, according to the report. The informant reportedly used $220 from the task force to buy about 2 ounces of illegal mushrooms.

    Both buys were recorded with visual and audio surveillance. The evidence was shipped to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for drug analysis.

    Tomlinson was arrested Monday and transported to Washington County Detention Center, where he was being held Tuesday without bond. He’s expected to make his first appearance in Washington County Circuit Court today.

    “It was an ongoing investigation and when it couldn’t progress any further, they decided to make an arrest,” said Fayetteville Police Sgt. Bill Phelan.

    Tomlinson ran for Congress under the Green Party banner against 3rd District Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, in 2008. Boozman defeated Tomlinson by nearly a 3-to-1 margin. Tomlinson previously served as a senator in the University of Arkansas’ Associated Student Government and was a former columnist for the Arkansas Traveler.

    Tomlinson was arrested in 2006 for disorderly conduct and public intoxication after using a bullhorn to debate evangelist Gary “Moses” Bowman on campus. Tomlinson pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge and paid a $200 fi ne.

    The 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force is made up of investigators from the Fayetteville, Springdale, University of Arkansas, Prairie Grove, West Fork, Johnson, Lincoln, Greenland, Farmington, Elm Springs and Elkins police departments and the Washington County Sheriff ’s Oft ce. Cpmgre

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