Updated 4/21/2023

UPDATE: Martinez had a pretrial hearing on 4/19/2023. Jury Trial has been tentatively set for April 26th, 2023 but will likely be moved again.

Ricardo Martinez of Morrilton was arrested in November for Sexual Indecency with a Minor. Conway County uses the app Mobile Patrol to list mug shots. Mobile Patrol does not list the charge and you can typically only see the date of arrest and a few descriptors of the arrested person like weight and age so in Conway County you have to call the jail and ask the charges or wait for the formal charges to be uploaded in Court Connect.

We started to hear rumors that Martinez was being held on a child sexual abuse related crime but he sat in the jail for weeks before folks started to get suspicious. Martinez is known to his community to be a loving father and a charming guy. We had several folks reach out to us because they were disturbed by the charges because he had spent time with them and their families.

So let’s talk about the real Ricardo Martinez.

Ricardo Thomas Martinez has had at least two women file for orders of protection against him in Conway County including the mother of his child. Martinez ultimately obtained an order of protection against the mother of his child based on allegations of being “smacked, kicked, spit on.” The case was set for a trial but she did not appear and he won the order of protection by default. The order was valid for one year and expired in 2018.

Martinez was arrested after a child reported continued molestation over a period of years to her School Resource Officer. SRO Phil Blaylock made all the difference for that child. Arkansas State Police were contacted immediately and the Police Department in Morrilton as well as DHS began investigating.

We will not be sharing any court documents on Martinez’s case that may expose the identity of the victim. Typically in these cases there is a Motion to Seal the affidavit filed but for whatever reason this case has not been sealed yet and we hope that it will in order to protect her identity.

The details of the abuse are disturbing and frankly not necessary to post because Martinez admitted to it. Yes, HE ADMITTED IT.

The Morrilton Police Department gave Martinez a polygraph test and upon confronting Martinez with the results that indicated he was being deceptive, he told the police to take him to jail. Per the affidavit, “Ricardo stated that if I send him home, I will just have a dead body tomorrow, because he is a sick bastard. Ricardo then stated just take him to jail because he is a sick bastard that needs to be shot.”

Martinez is being held in the Conway County jail on a $75,000 bond.