Hot Spring County Sheriff Scott Finkbeiner, who was already awaiting trial on federal charges, has now been arrested on state charges. And despite an order that he post bond, he didn’t have to pay a dime to leave the jail where he formerly gave orders.
Finkbeiner is charged with sexual solicitation, a misdemeanor, and unauthorized use of the Arkansas Criminal Information Center, a felony.
The center allows users to search for information on everything from missing persons to sex-offender registries to criminal records. Access to much of the center’s data is “restricted to governmental criminal justice officials for criminal justice purposes,” the center’s website notes.
The Arkansas State Police said in a brief statement that Finkbeiner surrendered to the Hot Spring County Detention Center in Malvern on Wednesday and that bail was set at $10,000.
But defense attorney Jeff Rosenzweig said today that his client was released on his own recognizance — a decision that, Rosenzweig said, can be made by the arresting officers under the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Rosenzweig said a judge set the $10,000 bail, “but for whatever reason, they decided — not from a request from us because we didn’t ask for any special treatment — it was decided just to cite him out.”
Finkbeiner is the county sheriff, though Rosenzweig noted that as a condition of Finkbeiner’s federal bond, “he is not permitted to perform any sheriff activities” as far as law enforcement.
On April 5, retired Circuit Judge Eddy Easley ordered the probable-cause affidavit in Finkbeiner’s case sealed because of pretrial publicity surrounding Finkbeiner’s federal case. Easley is presiding over the state case temporarily until May 6, when judicial appointee Margaret Dobson takes office.
The felony information filed by special prosecutor Robbie Jones, however, says that on or about May 21, 2023, Finkbeiner obtained information from the Criminal Information Center “for the purposes of furthering” a misdemeanor or felony offense. The misdemeanor charge against Finkbeiner says that on that same date he offered or agreed to pay “a person to engage in sexual activity with him or her or another person.”
Finkbeiner is to be arraigned in Hot Spring County Circuit Court on May 14 at 1 p.m.
A Republican, he is charged in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs with obstruction of justice and drug-related crimes.
Authorities have accused the sheriff of witness intimidation and smoking meth, which he allegedly offered to an undercover informant. The drug charges against him are deliberate concealment of a drug distribution crime and deliberate concealment of the maintenance of a drug-involved premises.