SCSO: Man arrested for rape after turning himself in for misdemeanor warrant

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office says a Hackett man turned himself in thinking it was for a misdemeanor warrant when he was later arrested for a rape warrant out of another county.

SCSO said its dispatch received a call from John Higman, 51, who was at a home on Diamondback Lane, according to a social media post .

Higman said he wanted to turn himself in for what he thought was a misdemeanor warrant out of Sebastian County.

SCSO noted the call was unusual. “We don’t get a lot of calls where people want to turn themselves in, much less want us to come pick them up,” SCSO said.

A SCSO deputy found that Higman also had a rape warrant out of Benton County. Two deputies later took Higman into custody.

“He acted very surprised when Deputy Smothers told him the Benton County rape warrant is still a valid warrant even if you leave the county where the crime was committed,” the post said.

Higman was booked into the Sebastian County Detention Center on August 20 and was released into the custody of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office the next day.

He is being held in the Benton County Detention Center on a $300,000 bond.

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