An informant told police that events called “ceremonies” would be held at Bittle’s residence and involved people taking mushrooms, ayahuasca tea, and other drugs.
— Two local gym owners have been arrested on multiple counts of alleged drug trafficking and firearm charges.
Bobby Bittle, 47, and Carolyn Jameson, 39, are the owners of Chop Barbell gym in Rogers. They were arrested in Benton County on Dec. 19 for charges including criminal conspiracy, trafficking a controlled substance, maintaining a drug premises, and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms.
An affidavit filed days after their arrests claims that Bittle and Jameson were trafficking drugs from their residence and on-site business, Chop HQ, in Bentonville.
A confidential informant told police that events called “ceremonies” would be held at Bittle’s residence and involved people taking psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca tea, marijuana, DMT, and other psychedelics.
According to the affidavit, a separate source informed police that Bittle was making his own DMT out of Mimosa tenuiflora bark.
Police searched Bittle and Jameson’s residence on Dec. 19 and found around six pounds of marijuana, over 13 pounds of Schedule III products, nearly a pound of psilocybin products, 48 firearms, and almost $4,000 in cash.
“It’s not super common that we catch people with that amount of drugs that qualifies as trafficking, or that we have any of the other factors,” said Joshua Robinson, chief deputy prosecuting attorney for Benton County.
Robinson said that if Bittle and Jameson are convicted, consequences can range from years to life in prison.
“Some of these charges carry up to a life sentence,” Robinson said. “If people have these level of charges and multiple Class Y felonies — and Class Y in Arkansas is the highest level of felony — if those are proven to be true, they’re looking at substantial prison sentences, potentially.”
The affidavit said a source later told police that Bittle had ties to Southeast Asia and frequently traveled there, which was corroborated by Bittle’s passport.
Bittle was assigned a bond of $250,000 and Jameson was assigned a bond of $150,000. Both were released on Dec. 21 and are expected in court on Jan. 26.