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Three arrested after accidental call to 911 led to confession of robbery, purchase of meth

Dispatch received an accidental 911 call from Dark on Oct. 7. During the call, he was overheard bragging about stealing from various businesses in Hot Springs. He was also overheard making a deal to purchase methamphetamine.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (KTHV) - Hot Springs police arrested 54-year-old Robert Dark, Wendi Barfield and Oceaonna Robinson after an accidental call led to his confession of theft and a methamphetamine purchase.

Dispatch received an accidental 911 call from Dark on Oct. 7. During the call, he was overheard bragging about stealing from various businesses in Hot Springs. He was also overheard making a deal to purchase methamphetamine.

“Even when you get an accidental 9-1-1 call, you want to listen to that call and see what’s going on in the background,” Cpl. Joey Williams of the Hot Springs Police Department said. “It could be someone dialing 9-1-1 and setting the phone down, so we can listen in. So, we just don’t, ‘oh, hey, nobody’s on that line,’ and hang that phone up. We want to listen in and see what’s going on. Just so happens, on this call, that we have somebody confessing to some theft crimes, and conducting a methamphetamine deal.”

Police then used the Smart 911 system, which allows officers to obtain information from the 911, to locate Dark and his vehicle at the Exxon on Grand and Central Avenues. While officers pulled Dark over, he was observed throwing a bag under the car.

Officers then approached the car and found the other two suspects, Barfield and Robinson, in the car with him.

“We’d already dealt with Robert Dark earlier in the evening on a traffic stop,” Williams mentioned, “so we, officers had an idea of what vehicle we were looking for.”

During the investigation, it was determined that all three suspects were in possession of meth and drug paraphernalia.

The three were charged as follows:

  • Robert Dark: Possession of a controlled substance (felony) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
  • Wendi Barfield: Possession of a controlled substance (felony) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
  • Oceaonna Robinson: Possession of a controlled substance (felony), possession of drug paraphernalia, failure to appear twice and failure to comply.

“We’ll tie the statements that he made on the phone line to cases that we may have open and see if we can close any of those cases out,” he said.

Williams said he had never seen anything like this accidental confession in his 18 years in law enforcement.

“If anyone wants to call 9-1-1 and confess to crimes,” he said hopefully, “we’re listening.”

All suspects are currently being held in the Garland County Detention Center and are innocent until proven guilty.

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