Drug dealer gets 30 years in prison
LR man vended kilograms of cocaine for $31,500 apiece, U.S. prosecutor says
A man who admitted selling kilograms of heroin and cocaine out of his west Little Rock homes was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr., who on Oct. 26 accepted a guilty plea from Aaron Laray “Black” Clark, 35, to one count of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute heroin.
In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped nine other charges Clark faced. But even with the other charges dismissed, Clark, who had three felony convictions, faced 10 years to life in prison.
He was arrested early May 24, 2017, after federal agents and local police surrounded a suburban home at 207 Cherrybark Drive, off Chenal Parkway, that was owned by his fiancee’s parents. Officers reported finding about $50,000 stashed behind the water heater in the house, where Clark was living.
Authorities also found nearly 4 pounds of methamphetamine, a press used to package narcotics, marijuana, a gun and ammunition at a small duplex apartment on David O. Dodd Road that they said Clark used as a “stash house.”
Months earlier, on Nov. 17, 2016, agents had searched Clark’s previous home in the Point West Subdivision off Kanis Road, seizing more than $100,000 in cash and jewelry, 6 ounces of heroin, a marijuana growing operation and six guns, but Clark wasn’t arrested at that time.
An FBI agent testified last summer that agents continued to monitor Clark after he moved out of the Point West house and into the Cherrybark house, watching and eavesdropping on his phone conversations while
he continued to sell heroin. The agent testified that they learned Clark was also selling a mixture of fentanyl and cocaine as heroin, “which many individuals overdosed on and nearly died from.”
Fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic opioid that has been linked to deaths across the country.
Clark’s arrest more than 13 months ago was part of a major operation targeting several drug-trafficking organizations in central Arkansas. His name led a 67-count indictment that charged 33 people with participating in his drug-trafficking organization.
Five of those defendants have since pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Four others have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing, and one has scheduled a change-of-plea hearing. Twenty-two defendants are facing a trial set to begin Aug. 20.
An El Paso, Texas, man accused of being Clark’s main supplier was indicted with him and remained at large Thursday. That man, Hector Soto, was seen driving a car owned by Clark while crossing the border into Mexico, where he is believed to be hiding, according to the agent’s testimony last summer.
In addition to the prison sentence, Clark forfeited $174,034 in cash, a diamond necklace, a Toyota Avalon, a Dodge Charger and seven guns.
At his plea hearing in October, Clark admitted he had been selling cocaine and heroin to dozens of people in the Little Rock area. U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland said Thursday that based on multiple wiretaps on Clark’s phones, officers knew he sold kilograms of cocaine for $31,500 apiece, as well as large quantities of heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine.
Among Clark’s previous convictions was a 2003 federal case involving cocaine in the Eastern District of Texas for which he spent nine years in prison, prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Danny Glover of Wynne argued in a sentencing memo that Clark’s earlier convictions were so long ago that they shouldn’t count against him to the point of labeling him a “career offender.” Glover also said Clark had a “disadvantaged childhood” in which his mother was a drug and alcohol abuser, his father wasn’t present and he was raised by his maternal grandparents.
The defense attorney said Clark began using illegal drugs at the age of 13, and used opiates every day. He was expelled from McCrory High School in the 10th grade, and then wasn’t allowed to enroll in nearby schools to complete his education, but he did obtain a General Educational Development diploma, Glover said.
Moody rejected the defense attorney’s efforts to give Clark a sentencing break.
Hiland and Diane Upchurch, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Little Rock office, praised the sentence handed down Thursday, with Church saying in a news release that it “illustrates the FBI’s commitment to work with our partners to prosecute individuals who sell dangerous drugs in our communities.”
“Little Rock is a safer place with Aaron Clark in federal prison for 30 years,” Hiland said, adding, “This repeat criminal made a living selling deadly drugs on our streets and spreading his toxic, destructive influence within our community. … Criminals who think they want to engage in similar activities should look at today’s sentence and know the same will be waiting for you.”
The primary investigation into Clark was conducted by the FBI’s Met Rock Task Force in coordination with the Little Rock and North Little Rock police departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benecia Moore.