A 62-year-old Bay man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted on charges of failing to register as a sex offender and illegally possessing firearms, according to court records.
Second Judicial Circuit Judge Scott Ellington sentenced Adam Wayne Williams to five years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, with 792 days of jail time credited toward the failure-to-register offense. An additional six years were imposed consecutively for one count of possession of a firearm by certain persons, with a suspended six-year sentence for a second firearms possession charge.
The charges stem from Williams’ arrest in March 2024. Craighead County sheriff’s deputies were investigating reports that Williams, a registered Level 2 sex offender, had sexually assaulted two children. During a search of his home on Highway 349, deputies reportedly found a shotgun in his bedroom and a .22-caliber revolver hidden between his mattress and box spring.
Williams was subsequently arrested for failing to comply with sex offender registration laws and for being a felon in possession of firearms.
While Williams was being held at the Craighead County Detention Center in August 2024, a judge found probable cause to charge him with five counts of rape and two counts of sexually grooming a child. Those charges remain pending, with court records showing a motion and plea day set for Oct. 28 and Nov. 9. A jury trial is scheduled to follow from Nov. 16 to Nov. 20.
Williams will serve his current sentence while those additional charges proceed through the legal system.