Judge Sentences Pastor, School Bus Driver On Methamphetamine Charge (Rogers, AR)

The Morning News ^ | 05.12.08

[Coleus]

A Rogers husband and wife who worked as a pastor and school bus driver were sentenced Monday to four years in prison for cooking methamphetamine in their family home. Joseph and Barbara Sisneros pleaded guilty last week to a reduced charge of possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture as part of a plea agreement between Deputy Prosecutor Drew Ledbetter and defense attorneys Blake Warren and Bobby Digby.

"This meth lab was not a small operation," Ledbetter told Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith. "Certain people should be held to a higher standard. At best, the court could believe they had a very large habit -- significant intravenous drug users with a half-gram per day habit." Rogers Police tracked the couple's frequent purchase of pseudoephedrine at drug stores in Rogers from November 2006 to February 2007. They went through the couple's trash and found numerous matchbooks with strike plates removed, a common way to extract red phosphorus used in cooking meth.

They arrested the couple at 2424 S. 26th St., where the couple lived with their 16-year-old son. A search of the home revealed a complete meth lab. The couple admitted to regular intravenous methamphetamine use. Barbara Sisneros, 42, was an active bus driver for the Rogers Public Schools at the time, according to Ashley Kelley, the school district spokesperson.

Sisneros went to work for the district since 2001, but resigned for a short period between January and March 2006, Kelley said. District policy is to drug test new hires, and random drug tests are administered to 30 percent of the drivers each quarter. Kelley did not know whether a test was required when Sisneros was rehired in March 2006. Sisneros officially resigned in February 2007 and informed her supervisor of the drug charge.

Kelley said results of any drug tests given to Sisneros couldn't be disclosed because her employment was not terminated, according to the district's attorney. "Any driver who tested positive for drug use would be fired," Kelley said. The couple's home was adjacent to a church, Fellowship Baptist, which was closed. Joseph Sisneros, 44, was the pastor there. He testified that he and his wife started taking sleeping and diet pills, and gradually progressed to meth use, because of stress and family problems. They had trouble with children, and he was caring for his brother, he said.

"I didn't wake up one morning and decide to ruin my life," Joseph Sisneros told the judge. "We were under so much depression. There was no distribution, only us using. We were taking most of it to stay awake." Jim Keith, a minister employed by Central United Methodist Church, testified that he is good friends with Joseph Sisneros, who recently worked for the church as maintenance supervisor.

"All of this has blown us out of the water," Keith said. "I was oblivious to any of what we are here for." Sisneros was terminated from church employment on April 21. Church staff said they were not aware of charges he faced. Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith ruled the couple could be transferred to a regional correctional center to undergo long-term drug treatment.

Keith said he has compassion for those who are addicted to drugs, and he struggles to find them appropriate dispositions. "I know preachers are not perfect. But in your situation, being someone that others look up to as an example, rightly or wrongly you are held to a higher standard. Considering the lives that could've been affected by this, I can't treat it like I would another case."

The Sisneros were released on citations after their Feb. 27, 2007, arrests. They couple was drug tested Friday and both tested positive for marijuana. Keith said that also factored into his decision. "This test tells me you haven't gotten a grip (on your addiction)," he said.