Attorney General Griffin Announces Guilty Pleas in Loitering Cases
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement today after Antonio Cornelius Johnson, 41, and Beatrice Ann Dabbs, 36, both of Little Rock, pled guilty and were sentenced on two counts each of loitering:
“Johnson and Dabbs were cited by the Little Rock Police Department on August 9, 2026, for loitering in the median at University Avenue and Cantrell Road. On August 24, 2026, investigators from my Special Investigations Division (SID) cited Johnson and Dabbs for loitering at the same location. Each was charged with one count of loitering stemming from each incident, for a total of two counts each.
“Today, Johnson and Dabbs pled guilty to both counts and were sentenced to a 30-day suspended jail sentence.
“The median at University Avenue and Cantrell Road is no place for someone to loiter. This is a busy area, and loitering there creates a dangerous situation for those in the median and a traffic hazard for motorists. I want to thank SID for enforcing this law and helping keep our roadways safe.
“In July 2025, I held a press conference calling on local law enforcement and municipal and county leaders to enforce Arkansas’s loitering law, and I made clear that my office stood ready to assist with enforcement.
“Arkansas’s loitering laws are clear, and we are serious about enforcing them.”
Loitering, a Class C misdemeanor under Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-71-213, makes it illegal to linger or remain “on a sidewalk, roadway or public right-of-way” in a way that will “create a traffic hazard or impediment.”
To download a PDF of this release, click here.
About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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