Drug trafficker gets 17 years
Hot Spring man’s guilty plea included firearms possession
HOT SPRINGS — A man arrested in 2019 as part of the nine-month investigation Operation Who’s Next was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison last week after he pleaded guilty last year to drug trafficking and firearms possession.
Antone Nicklaus Costa, 42, of Hot Springs, appeared on June 17 in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs and was sentenced to 17 years and seven months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, on one count of possession with intent to distribute meth and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes.
According to court records, the remaining four counts of a federal indictment were dismissed under the plea agreement, which was entered in August 2021.
In June 2019, agents with the Arkansas State Police and detectives from the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force began an investigation into Costa for the distribution of meth in the Garland County area. Between June 20-23, 2019, law enforcement officers conducted several controlled purchases of meth from Costa, the release said.
On Sept. 16, 2019, an Arkansas State Police trooper made a traffic stop of Costa and took him into custody. A search of his person revealed approximately 4 grams of meth, 29 suspected Clonazepam tablets and $823 in cash. In the passenger’s seat of the vehicle, the officers observed in plain view a loaded 9-mm handgun.
Costa was transported back to his residence, which was also searched. Officers located a stolen .45-caliber handgun, an additional handgun, ammunition and multiple empty baggies.
Operation Who’s Next resulted in 65 arrests related to meth distribution and firearms violations, Garland County Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Lawrence previously told The Sentinel-Record.
More than 2,014 grams, or 4.44 pounds, of meth was seized along with 20 firearms in Hot Springs and Garland County, many of which were in possession of convicted felons prohibited by law from having firearms, Lawrence said.
“It’s the largest we’ve done as far as the amount of drugs off the street,” Garland County Deputy Prosecutor Trent Daniels told the newspaper at the time.