Hot Springs man gets 7 years in drug case
FORT SMITH — A man was sentenced Monday to a total of seven years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Tyler Merle Cable, 34, of Hot Springs was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs on one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the office of David Clay Fowlkes, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey presided over the sentencing hearing.
Law enforcement agents developed confidential sources who could buy methamphetamine from area drug dealers while conducting narcotics investigations in the Hot Springs, Garland County area, according to Cable’s plea agreement.
One of these transactions took place Sept. 6. A consensually monitored and recorded phone call was made to Cable, and an agreement was reached for him to sell a confidential source some methamphetamine and a semi-automatic handgun for a total of $450.
Investigators met with the confidential source before the transaction. They provided the source with $450 and a recording device. The source then traveled to the predetermined buy location in Garland County while investigators maintained surveillance.
After the source and Cable entered the structure at the location, Cable removed a semi-automatic handgun from a bag and gave the source a detailed demonstration on how to properly operate it, the agreement states.
Afterward, Cable gave the firearm and methamphetamine to the source in exchange for the $450, as well as three rounds of .45-caliber ammunition. The entire transaction was captured on the recording device in both video and audio.
From there, the source traveled to a predetermined debriefing location to meet with investigators. The source provided investigators with the recording device, firearm, ammunition and methamphetamine.
The methamphetamine was field tested with positive results for the presence of methamphetamine and was determined to weigh 1.7 grams, after which it was sent to the state Crime Laboratory to undergo further testing.
It is also undisputed, the agreement states, that the firearm that the source provided investigators had been reported stolen on or about Aug. 14.
Cable was indicted Nov. 20 on three counts of distribution of any amount of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine and one count each of use, carry or possess a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a stolen firearm, according to court records.
He entered a guilty plea to the third distribution count and the possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime count during a change of plea hearing held Feb. 5. Cable’s remaining charges were dismissed in accordance with his plea agreement.
The case was investigated by the 18th Judicial Drug Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations Fayetteville, according to a news release from Fowlkes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Achorn prosecuted the case for the Western District of Arkansas.