A Long Valley NJ man was recently sentenced for distributing methamphetamine in Arkansas.
According to federal prosecutors, the 51-year-old defendant committed the drug crimes while living in Morris County, New Jersey. Authorities believe that he worked as an out-of-state distributor of methamphetamine in Arkansas.
Law enforcement, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), began an investigation into the defendant after learning of a drug trafficking organization in the southwest part of Arkansas.
DEA agents set up an undercover sting operation to get evidence of the defendant’s involvement in the drug trafficking operation. The undercover agents arranged a meeting, prompting the defendant to travel from New Jersey to Arkansas to pick up methamphetamine. Officials believe that the defendant planned to distribute the drugs back in New Jersey.
The DEA agents gave the defendant a shrink-wrapped block of counterfeit drugs, which they represented to be eight ounces of methamphetamine. In exchange for the drugs, the defendant allegedly gave the agents two signed business account checks.
Sometime after the transaction, a state trooper pulled over the defendant’s pickup truck and placed him under arrest. Police reportedly found the counterfeit drugs in a red sleeping bag in the vehicle.
The suspect eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
At a sentencing hearing in a federal court located in El Dorado, Arkansas, the defendant was ordered to serve 4 years in federal prison. Additionally, the defendant will be required to undergo 3 years of supervised release after he completes his prison term.
For more information about this case, see the NJ.com article entitled “N.J. Man Nabbed in Undercover Sting Gets Federal Prison Time for Drug Charge.”