FRANKLIN COUNTY (KFSM) -- Probable cause affidavits filed in Franklin County reveal the details of a sex ring involving children as young as 13 years old.
Four men have been arrested in connection to the investigation and a fifth suspect is still wanted, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.
The five suspects include:
- Michael Ray Roe, 60
- Dillion Wayne Harrison, 19
- John Larry Dalton Davis, 20
- Weston Bailey, 20
- Cory Bryant Oxford, 25
Records show Harrison was arrested July 15, Roe was arrested July 19, Bailey was arrested July 27, and Davis was arrested July 28. Authorities are still seeking Oxford on charges of rape and transporting a minor for prohibited sexual conduct, according to the sheriff's office.
Court records show Roe is already a registered sex offender following an arrest in Crawford County in 2001.
Roe pleaded no contest to pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child in 2001. Roe was given a suspended sentence of five years and made to register as a sex offender. The conditions of his sentence included no contact with the victim or any of their family and no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. He was also prohibited from employing anyone under the age of 18.
A level two sex offender does not have to be publicly listed online on the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC) Sex Offender Registry, which is why a search of Roe's name does not yield any results.
Residents in Mulberry, where Roe's home and place of business are located are shocked that they are not being able to search Roe's records openly.
"Evidently it's not efficient . What is the point of having a Sex Offender Registry list if you can just take yourself off of it?" said resident Eli Clardy.
Records show Roe then petitioned Crawford County in 2007 to have his case sealed, but the circuit court denied his request.
Since 2001, Roe, who owns Dickerson Wholesale Supply in Mulberry, which is across the street from Marvin Elementary School, has been arrested twice in 2016, according to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. Roe was arrested on April 14 and again on July 19 on charges related to the same child sex ring case, court records show.
Records show he has also been released on bond following both arrests. In April, Roe was released on $200,000 bond and this month he was released on $100,000 bond.
Court documents show Roe is facing the following charges following both arrests:
- three counts of rape
- 12 counts of fourth-degree sexual assault
- one count of second-degree sexual assault
- one count of sexual indecency with a child
- three counts of of transporting a minor for prohibited sexual conduct
- one count first-degree terroristic threatening.
All the charges are felonies.
Probable cause affidavits filed for Roe, Harrison, Davis, Bailey and Oxford show the suspects began abusing their victims as early as August 2014 and continued the abuse until April 2016, when Roe was arrested.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office began investigating Roe in April after a 14-year-old victim and a 16-year-old victim said Roe had paid both of them money to perform sex acts on Roe and each other, according to the affidavits.
Following Roe's arrest and release on bond, investigators found a third victim, a 17-year-old male, had also been involved in sex acts with Roe and the two other victims, the affidavits state. They also discovered four other men, Harrison, Davis, Bailey and Oxford, had been involved in sex acts with the victims after introducing the teens to Roe, according to the affidavits.
The 17-year-old victim was introduced to Roe in late 2015 after Bailey told him he could get a job working for Roe, according to the affidavits. The victim told investigators that between November 2015 and April 2016, he had been to Roe's home more than 30 times to perform sex acts, the affidavits state.
The 14-year-old victim, who was 13 when the rape and sexual assault began, told investigators he was introduced to Roe in August 2014 when Oxford asked the victim if he wanted to make money mowing lawns, according to the affidavits. Oxford then asked the victim if he wanted to make money by taking his clothes off for Roe, which then led to the victim to perform sex acts on the men and the other victims, the affidavits state. The victim said the last incident of abuse happened in April 2016, which is when Roe was first arrested in the case, according to the affidavits.
The 16-year-old victim, who met Roe when he was 15, was introduced to Roe by Davis, who asked him if he wanted to make money by taking his clothes off for Roe, the affidavits state. The victim was then led to perform sex acts on the men and on the other victims, according to the affidavit. The victim told investigators he performed sex acts with Roe 40 to 60 times, the affidavit states. As was the case with the other two victims, the 16-year-old victim last went to Roe's home in April 2016, according to the affidavits.
Most of the sex acts were performed at Roe's house after the victims were brought there by either Roe himself or the other four suspects, the affidavits state. The sex acts included oral sex and anal sex, according to the affidavits. All the victims and the other suspects were paid for performing sex acts with Roe, the affidavits state. Court records show Roe paid the victims anywhere from $40 to $200 following their meetings.
The victims told investigators Roe would coordinate meetings between the three of them using text messages and would refer to sexual activity as "playing checkers," according to the affidavits. A search of Roe's phone confirmed the text messages and the use of code terms to set up meetings for the purpose of performing sexual acts, the affidavits state.
All three victims also told investigators Roe threatened to kill them and their families if they told anyone about the sex acts, according to the affidavits.
Roe was released on $100,000 bond July 19 with conditions that include not having any contact or communication with the victims, an electronic monitoring device and a 8 p.m. curfew, according to court documents. His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 1.
Court records show Harrison is facing charges of transporting a minor for prohibited sexual conduct and sexual indecency with a child, for which his bond was set at $30,000. They also show he had been released on bond July 20 with conditions that include not having any contact or communication with the victims, the court documents state. Harrison's next court date is set for Sept. 1, 2016.
Records show Davis is still in custody at the Franklin County Jail. He is facing charges of transporting a minor for prohibited sexual conduct and sexual indecency with a child, according to court documents.
Bailey, who is facing a charge of sexual indecency with a child, has been released on bond, according to jail records.
In April, following Roe's first arrest of 2016, police told 5NEWS he was within the confines of the law when operating his business across the street from an elementary school. On Friday (July 29), there was a sign on the door of Dickerson Wholesale Supply that read: No one under 18 allowed unless accompanied by an adult.
