Dumas Sex Offender: Lack Of Funding Causes Release

South Arkansas law enforcement faces financial crisis to keep inmates locked up. Desha County Sheriff goes on the record.

Bryan Pringle walking in Dumas after his release from jail. (Photo courtesy of Shanina Gunn)

Shanina Gunn couldn't believe her eyes as she drove in Dumas.

Bryan Pringle, who was arrested in June for failing to register as a sex offender, was walking on the shoulder of Highway 65.

In June Gunn chased Pringle and confronted him at his motel room near Dumas Junior High School after Pringle allegedly slipped a note to her son in McDonald's where the teenager works.

Dumas police arrested Pringle who has been a registered sex offender in New York. It's unclear why Pringle is in Dumas.

(Read our initial story about Pringle below.)

Dumas: Sexual Solicitation Of A Minor

Gunn called the Dumas Police Department immediately after spotting Pringle and was told Desha County Sheriff Mitch Grant released him.

“I was mad,” Gunn said. “You don't just let someone like that go. I drove to Arkansas City.”

Arkansas City is the county seat. Gunn confronted Grant about the release. Pringle was soon behind bars again with a $50,000 bond.

Why was Pringle released anyway?

South Arkansas Reckoning contacted Dumas Police Chief Keith Finch. He replied:

“Pringle was released on OR Bond by the Desha County Sheriff’s Office. Any other information concerning his release and subsequent rebooking will need to be addressed to the Desha County Sheriff Mitch Grant. 

Thank you,

Keith Finch

South Arkansas Reckoning then sent an email to Sheriff Grant who responded:

“Desha County does not have a county jail. I have to pay other jails between $50 to $120 per day to house Desha County inmates. Bryan Pringle was arrested by the Dumas Police Department and placed in the Dumas City Jail. Once the charges are filed with the Desha County Circuit Clerk by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, they become a Desha County Inmate, that we have to start paying for, while in the city jail. I have a small budget to pay for inmate housing. In an attempt to properly manage our budget, and balance public safety, each week I evaluate our jail roster.  We sometimes have prisoners in as many as seven different county and city jails.  I look at who is being held for non-violent, or victimless crimes, how much we are having to pay for their incarceration, medicine, and medical care, and I then make a decision to leave them in jail until they may be able to bond out or release them on their own recognizance.  Yesterday we added a new option and started a home detention program with angle [ankle] monitors.   

“When I looked at court connect to see the charges that were filed on Pringle, the only charge was for failure to register as a sex offender. We typically arrest those, book them in with current information, and release them on their own recognizance with a circuit court date. On 7/30/2024 we released Bryan Pringle and three others, on their own recognizance, with conditions of release. That is all I knew about Bryan Pringle, because it was a Dumas Police Department case. The following morning a mother of a teenaged boy from Dumas came to my office asking why I released Pringle. I explained this to her, but she maintained that Pringle was charged with sexual solicitation of a minor. I showed her that he was only charged with failure to register as a sex offender. She then explained to me that Pringle had given her son a note at McDonalds and asked him to come to his motel room for a job interview if he was interested. She expressed her displeasure of him being released from custody. This information was not known by me at the time of Pringle’s release, and it caused me concern. I begin researching Pringle and discovered that he was convicted of a sex crime 18 years ago in New York, and was now a vagrant in Dumas, living in a motel.  I learned that Dumas P.D. did originally charged Pringle with solicitation of a minor, but once it was turned into the Prosecutor’s Office, it did not meet the statutory requirement for that particular charge, so the only charge that was actually filed was failure to register as a sex offender. 

On 8/2/2024 Bryan Pringle did not call into the Sheriff's Office and give his location, which was a condition of his release. I ordered that his release be revoked. That evening Deputies located Pringle and arrested him. He was placed back in the Dumas City Jail for the failure to register charge, with a $50,000 bond. Had I known all this information about Bryan Pringle prior, I would not have released him on his own recognizance. I never want to make our citizens live in fear for their safety, or the safety of their children. It is our mission to make Desha County a safer place to live. In hindsight, I made a mistake by releasing Pringle. It was a lesson learned my me, to further research anyone that another agency has arrested before I make the decision to release someone.”