Phillip Arnold
Off-duty police officers working security on the parking lot of P.J.’s Nightclub early Saturday morning arrested a man who had been banned from the business. Drugs and a gun were also found in his vehicle, police said.
Phillip Arnold, 27, had two unlabeled pill bottles containing Darvocet and Oxycodone and a .9-millimeter handgun, Detective Richard McCorvy reported in a probable cause affidavit presented in court Monday.
Deputy Prosecutor Maxie Kizer said McCorvy and two other officers were on the parking lot at 2 a.m. when they saw a gray Chevrolet driven by Arnold pull up to the door of the business.
McCorvy reported he was familiar with Arnold who had been banned by club security after he allegedly tried to bring a gun into the club several months ago and knew that Arnold had been warned that if he returned to the business, he would be arrested for criminal trespass.
Kizer said McCorvy went to the driver’s side of the vehicle and another officer went to the passenger side, and immediately indicated that there was a gun in the vehicle.
McCorvy reported that the gun had one round in the chamber and 12 in the magazine and was in the console of the vehicle.
After Arnold was arrested for criminal trespass, the vehicle was searched and officers found two pill bottles that had the labels removed, and McCorvy reported that one of the bottles contained Oxycodone and the other Darvocet, both schedule 2 narcotics.
Pine Bluff District Judge John Kearney set a $25,000 bond for Arnold after ruling prosecutors had probable cause to charge him with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms.
Kearney appointed the Public Defender’s Office to represent Arnold and told him to come back to court Sept. 17.