Sending message to law enforcement to buy drugs ends badly for Salem man
FROM COURT RECORDS
In a bizarre case, officers with the Sixteenth Judicial District Drug Task Force, working with a confidential informant, learned a Salem man was seeking a ride to Hardy to buy an ounce of illegal drugs. The problem was that the man was utilizing instant messenger on Facebook to seek someone to drive him there and sent a message to a police officer, among others.
One of the people that 31-year-old Ted Eugene Kingsley, Jr. contacted agreed to respond to Kingsley with a cell phone belonging to the Drug Task Force (DTF).
An undercover agent with the DTF answered the call from Kingsley, where the agent spoke to the suspect, and he agreed to supply the agent with 30 Oxycodone pills for $10 to $15 each in exchange for a ride to Walmart in Ash Flat.
The undercover agent agreed to purchase $175 worth of pills from Kingsley at Walmart in the parking lot. He then picked up Kingsley and travelled to the parking lot where a second DTF agent was waiting. After completing the transaction with $140 of the DTF’s controlled buy funds, the undercover agent was given 17 white oblong tablets with T194 imprints, advertised as OxyCodone.
After the agent took the pills provided by Kingsley into possession, Kingsley exited the undercover vehicle and was surprisingly met by the second agent, who promptly took him into custody and retrieved the DTF buy funds with serial numbers recorded before the undercover buy.
Kingsley was transported to the Sharp County Detention Center, where he was processed and charged with Delivery of a Controlled Substance, Oxycodone, a Class B Felony, and Unlawful Use of a Communication Device, a Class C Felony.
Kingsley’s first appearance was held on July 23, and his bond was set at $10,000 cash or professional by District Judge Mark Johnson. He posted the bond through JE Bonding on July 23 and was in court on July 31, and was determined to be indigent. A public defender was assigned to his case.
He is set for arraignment on Aug. 11 at 9 a.m. in Sharp County Circuit Court.
