Austin Potts of Arkansas is a Mountain Home man whose criminal record stretches across Arkansas and Oklahoma and, as of February 2026, includes a new felony charge in Baxter County along with four pending petitions to revoke the probation he is already serving. If any of those petitions succeed, he faces the suspended prison time behind his earlier sentences.
Where Potts’s Cases Stand in 2026
In January 2026, Baxter County prosecutors charged Potts with first-degree terroristic threatening. A probable cause affidavit alleges he threatened the estranged husband of a woman he was dating, telling the man he would “put a hot one” in him and that he would “be dead and never see his children again,” and challenging him to a fight. The victim and his wife were in the process of divorcing, though no divorce papers had been filed yet.1KTLO. Potts Picks Up New Charges and Four Petitions Seeking Revocation of Probation Filed Against Him
The victim sought an order of protection, but it was dismissed on January 21, 2026, after he failed to appear at the hearing. Reporting on the case noted that other women had previously sought protective orders against Potts, alleging stalking, harassment, and violent behavior.1KTLO. Potts Picks Up New Charges and Four Petitions Seeking Revocation of Probation Filed Against Him
Potts was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on January 11, 2026, and released the same day on a $10,000 bond. Because of his record, prosecutors are pursuing the charge under habitual-offender status, which allows enhanced sentencing on conviction.
On February 2, 2026, Potts appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court. His attorney, Ben Burnett, waived arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty to the terroristic threatening charge, and also entered not-guilty pleas to the revocation petitions. No trial date had been set as of that hearing.1KTLO. Potts Picks Up New Charges and Four Petitions Seeking Revocation of Probation Filed Against Him
The Four Revocation Petitions
The January 2026 arrest triggered four separate petitions to revoke Potts’s probation:
- Two in Baxter County, alleging he violated the terms of probation in his two earlier Baxter County cases by picking up the new charge.
- Two in Washington County, where revocation petitions and arrest warrants were issued on January 30, 2026, in the cases underlying his ten-year probation sentence.1KTLO. Potts Picks Up New Charges and Four Petitions Seeking Revocation of Probation Filed Against Him
The Probation He Is Already On
Potts was carrying probationary or suspended sentences in three jurisdictions when the new charge was filed.
Baxter County: Assault on a Deputy
In the early morning hours of September 6, 2020, Potts led Baxter County deputies on a motorcycle pursuit on State Highway 201 near Mountain Home. When a deputy tried to use a Taser after Potts stopped, Potts accelerated and struck the officer, knocking him to the ground. He fled on foot and was arrested near the Baxter Regional Medical Center. The deputy was treated and released. Potts was charged with second-degree battery, aggravated assault, and fleeing.2KAIT8. Man Arrested After Injuring Deputy During Pursuit In September 2021, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years of probation plus sixty days in the Baxter County Detention Center.1KTLO. Potts Picks Up New Charges and Four Petitions Seeking Revocation of Probation Filed Against Him
Washington County: Domestic Violence
In late February 2021, while free on bond in the deputy-assault case, Potts was charged in Washington County with aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and domestic battery. An ex-girlfriend told investigators Potts held her in a Fayetteville hotel room, where he battered, choked, headbutted, and shoved her, and that in a separate incident in Mountain Home he gripped her shirt to keep her from leaving his truck, then drove her to an industrial plant and assaulted her. She also said Potts tried to run over her brother with his truck. His bond in the deputy case was replaced with a $15,000 cash-only bond.3KTLO. Oakland Man’s Bond Revoked After Being Charged With New Crimes in Northwest Arkansas The Washington County cases were resolved in February 2024 with a ten-year probation sentence, supervised by the Mountain Home office of Arkansas Community Corrections under an interstate compact and scheduled to run through February 2034.4Ecomm News Network. A Baxter County Man Has Been Sentenced to 10 Years Probation
Oklahoma: Suspended Sentence
Potts also carries a two-year suspended sentence out of Caddo County, Oklahoma, imposed in March 2024 after his original deferred sentence was accelerated.5Oklahoma District Court Records. State of Oklahoma v. Austin D. Potts, CF-2019-00192
The 2019 Fort Cobb Lake Incident
The Oklahoma case is the one that first put Potts in the news. On August 27, 2019, two Southwestern Oklahoma State University freshmen, Jacob Russell and Jacob McClendon, were fishing near Sunset Cove Marina at Fort Cobb Lake in Caddo County. Video the teens recorded showed Potts and another man confronting them, apparently claiming authority over the area. Potts threw screws at their boat, exposed himself, and rammed the starboard side of their fiberglass bass boat multiple times with an aluminum jon boat, pushing it into a dock. The teens’ boat sustained a cracked hull, a broken trolling motor shaft, and a cracked outboard motor. Potts told investigators he hit the teens’ boat twice but said they had been “disrespectful and provocative” toward him and marina workers.6KFOR. Charges Filed Against Man Following Fishermen Feud at Fort Cobb Lake
He was charged in September 2019 with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, acts resulting in gross injury, failure to possess current vessel registration, and failure to have required equipment on a vessel. He pleaded guilty to all five counts on June 25, 2020, and received a deferred sentence that was later accelerated to the current suspended sentence after he failed to appear for a 2023 hearing.5Oklahoma District Court Records. State of Oklahoma v. Austin D. Potts, CF-2019-00192
What a Revocation Would Mean
Probation revocation does not create a new sentence; it activates the prison time that was suspended when probation was imposed. With four petitions pending across two Arkansas counties, and a terroristic threatening charge being pursued under habitual-offender status, Potts’s exposure is substantial. The revocation hearings and the new charge remain pending, and Potts continues to be supervised by the Mountain Home office of Arkansas Community Corrections.