ASHDOWN, Ark–A 20-year-old man who allegedly said he would use a machete to kill an Ashdown teen has been charged with terroristic threatening and possession of sexually explicit matter involving a child in Little River County, according to records filed Tuesday.
Jody Braden Lawrence allegedly threatened to send nude photos of a juvenile girl to her parents and post the images on social media if she broke up with him “or did not do what he asked,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
The girl’s family reported that alleged threat and more to the Little River County Sheriff’s Office on May 19, according to court records. Lawrence allegedly carries a machete in his car that is “very sharp” and threatened to “cut [the girl] into pieces and hide her body in the woods where nobody would find her,” the affidavit said.
Lawrence allegedly told the girl that he would kill her family if she “brought them around.”
A Texarkana, Ark., address is listed for Lawrence on the warrant for his arrest on the terroristic threatening and possession of sexually explicit matter involving a child, however, a Foreman, Ark., address is listed on paperwork related to a $25,000 bond Lawrence posted to effect his release from Little River County custody on May 30.
If convicted of terroristic threatening, Lawrence faces up to six years in prison, a fine up to $10,000, or both. If found guilty of possessing sexually explicit material depicting a child, Lawrence faces three to ten years in prison, a fine up to $10,000, or both.
Lawrence is scheduled to appear for arraignment on the charges next week before Circuit Judge Bryan Chesshir, records show.
At an initial court appearance May 29, Judge Chesshir ordered that Lawrence have no contact with the alleged victim while the case proceeds. No attorney of record was listed for Lawrence on Tuesday.
