Meth conviction nets man 46-month prison sentence
A man who was recorded selling meth in a park across from Arkansas High School in Texarkana was sentenced to just under four years in federal prison Monday.
Jerry Dill, 52, was taken into custody at the end of a sentencing hearing Monday morning before U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey in Texarkana’s downtown federal building to begin serving a 46-month prison term for distribution of methamphetamine. Dill had been on home detention since his arrest.
Dill was among many defendants arrested in May 2016 in a collaborative operation involving multiple agencies working to rid the Texarkana area of drug traffickers. Dill was initially named in a five-count indictment issued by a grand jury in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas. As part of Dill’s plea agreement, four of the counts were dismissed Monday at sentencing upon a motion by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brice White. Dill was represented by Texarkana lawyer Craig Henry.
At a detention hearing May 19, 2016, White told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant that two of the “buys” listed by date in Dill’s indictment occurred in the open at Jefferson Park directly across the street from Arkansas High School.
At the earlier detention hearing, White described Dill’s home as a “haven for drug dealers” and mentioned his association with Skip Lomax, a Texarkana man recently sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison for meth trafficking and weapons offenses, including the sale of a “dead man’s grenade.”
Hickey agreed to recommend that Dill be enrolled in the Bureau of Prisons intensive drug treatment program while incarcerated and that he be considered for a year’s residency in a half-way house upon release. Following his release from prison, Dill will be supervised by federal officials for three years. If he violates his supervised release conditions, Dill could be ordered to serve more time in prison.