Drug use results in a prison stint for NLR accused

Man broke terms of release

A North Little Rock man sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm was ordered to serve eight months in prison Thursday by U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker after federal prosecutors asked to have his supervised release revoked over repeated drug use.

Rashad Scaife, 22, was charged with numerous violations of the conditions of his supervised release through repeated failed drug tests that came up positive for marijuana use between July 17, 2020, and Dec. 11, 2020, failing to show up for weekly drug screens at the probation 0ffice, then failing to report at all from Dec. 11, 2020, until he was arrested on weapons charges May 15, during which time his whereabouts were not known to probation officers.

Scaife resurfaced when he was arrested by North Little Rock police after a brief pursuit and was charged with possession of a firearm by certain persons when a pistol was found in his car during a traffic stop. Scaife was also charged with felony fleeing and a misdemeanor count of possession of drugs with purpose to deliver, according to Pulaski County court records. He has been held in the Pulaski County jail since his arrest.

“I conducted a revocation hearing previously and held this case in abeyance for 90 days,” Baker said. “During that 90-day period there have been further alleged violations, and we have a superseding motion to revoke filed June 8, 2021.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benecia Moore told Baker that the government would move forward on all of the reported violations with the exception of those connected to Scaife’s arrest on May 15 because of the charges pending by the state. Baker agreed to deny those allegations without prejudice, meaning prosecutors may pursue the matter at a later time.

Of the remaining 16 allegations, Scaife, through his attorney, Darrell Brown of Little Rock, did not contest any of them. As a result, Baker revoked his supervised release.

Brown asked for leniency for his client, saying Scaife’s repeated drug use violations pointed to substance abuse issues. He said the main reason for so many violations was “a dependence on marijuana.” He asked Baker to consider releasing Scaife on supervised release with renewed conditions or a sentence on the low end of the guideline sentencing range of five to 11 months in prison.

Brown pointed out that Scaife was employed at the time of his arrest and had arranged other employment in the event the judge agreed to release him.

Scaife, who read a brief statement, asked Baker to sentence him to home detention with location monitoring.

“I’m not going to bore you with excuses as to why I failed my drug tests,” he said. “I’d like to focus on the difference between six months ago and now. Six months ago I felt defeated and in a dark place mentally, having obligations and constantly falling short.”

After he was able to find a steady job, he said, he was able to save money to help his fiancee get a place to live and a vehicle to drive.

“I now have a place to lay my head, and a vehicle to get back and forth to work and to appointments that probation sees fit,” Scaife continued. “This is something that was not an option six months ago.”

Moore, opposing release, asked Baker instead to consider a sentence at the high end of the guidelines.

“Mr. Scaife was sentenced by the court last year and got time served,” she said. “Almost immediately Mr. Scaife was off on the wrong track with pretrial services and his compliance with conditions.”

Moore said the initial petition was filed to bring him in and impress upon him the importance of following the conditions of his release. She said the final straw was Scaife’s failure to report to the probation office for weekly drug tests until he stopped reporting in altogether and dropped out of sight until his arrest in North Little Rock.

“The government is not proceeding on that Grade D violation, but the facts of that arrest are concerning,” she said. “He was arrested in the car with three guns, marijuana and, considering his history, that’s how we find ourselves here today and is probably why he was detained until this hearing.”