Woman claims to be boy’s aunt

When the mother of a 14-year-old Pea Ridge student learned that a young womancarrying a baby had gone to Pea Ridge High School to check out her son, she contacted the PeaRidge Police Department.

The woman, later identified as Samantha Cotton, claimed to be the boy’s aunt. She was not on the list of persons approved to check out the boy and school officials did not release the boy to her, according to the police report.

On other occasioins, the boy had run away from home and been found with Cotton, according to the police report.

Samantha Cotton, 18, of Garfield, was arrested by Benton County Sheriff’s deputies Wednesday, Oct. 12, on a Pea Ridge warrant for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was booked into the Benton County Jail.

According to police, contributing to the delinquency of a minor includes someone who “aids, causes or encourages a minor to do any act prohibited by law or habitually absent self from school when required to attend.”