Couple arrested in Benton on charges of imprisoning a Hot Springs Village woman
By DIANE UPCHURCH Voice News Bureau

Deborah Ball, 53, and Wilmer Andrew Masoner, 56, were arrested early last week at their attorney's office in Benton.

The Pleasant Valley, Ariz., couple had been caregivers for an 81-year old Hot Springs Village woman on the Saline County side of the Village.

According to A.L. Cornett, Department of Public Safety director, both Ball and Masoner have been charged with false imprisonment in the first degree, a Class C felony.

Ball and Masoner's alleged crime has an uncanny similarity to Sue Grafton's latest mystery novel "T is for Trespass."

In the book, a woman has herself made guardian of an elderly person, isolates the person from friends, family and neighbors, making the elderly person's estate ripe for the picking.

Ball and Masoner's activities are being thoroughly investigated by Village police, and additional charges may be pending.

According to Ken Casady, prosecuting attorney for Saline County, the couple has been released from the Saline County county jail on $2,000 bail each.

Ball and Masoner are to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Saline County Courthouse.

Formal charges will be presented against the couple at that time, and future court dates will be set.

Casady said he did not know where the couple was staying in the interim.