By Ray King
A $100,000 bond was set Friday for a Pine Bluff man on drug and weapons charges.
Pine Bluff District Judge John Kearney set the bond after ruling prosecutors have probable cause to charge Johnathan Lancaster, 36, with three counts of possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver, four counts of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of theft by receiving a firearm.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jill Reed said the allegations are based on an affidavit from Detective Lee Freeman who reported that on Thursday, Pine Bluff Vice and Narcotics Detectives, the SWAT team and members of the Tri-County Drug Task Force served a search warrant at a house in the 2600 block of West 26th Avenue.
She said officers knocked on the door multiple times and when no one answered forced their way into the house where they located Lancaster and several other people and one child who were detained while the search was conducted.
Reed continued by talking about other drugs and weapons found in the house.
At that point the judge asked Reed to stop and admonished Lancaster, telling him that what Reed was saying were only allegations at this point and the state would have to prove them. He instructed Lancaster to stop groaning, making statements and making faces or other sounds. Reed was then instructed to continue.
Lancaster has more than four prior felony convictions and is currently on parole. He was told to come back to court Sept. 19 and said he would hire his own attorney.
