Former HS woman pleads guilty to charges from ‘Operation 8 Ball’
A former Hot Springs woman arrested on multiple felony drug charges last year as part of the six-month, multiagency sting operation dubbed “Operation 8 Ball” pleaded guilty to half the charges Monday in Garland County Circuit Court.
Nakia Lonette Welch, 35, who now lists a Benton address, pleaded guilty to two counts of delivery of methamphetamine, one punishable by up to 20 years in prison and the other punishable by up to 10 years, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with the entire sentence suspended, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $590 in court costs.
Two additional counts of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise in the second degree, punishable by up to 30 years, were withdrawn. Welch had been set to stand trial Tuesday on all the charges.
Deputy Prosecutor Trent Daniels, who worked closely with the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force during the operation, said part of the reason for the lighter sentence was Welch was willing to plead guilty to the charges without the state having to reveal the identity of the confidential informant used in the case in open court.
Daniels said
Welch was also
“a little smarter than the average bear” and while she set up the drug deals she used an intermediary to actually make the delivery each time. “We didn’t have her on video doing the hand-tohand transaction,” he said, noting the intermediary she used was also arrested and sent to prison.
He said it would have been “very hard” to prove Welch’s involvement at trial since it would have been based primarily on text messages and phone calls. “We were hoping to get something out of it” by making the plea offer and she was willing to agree.
Daniels said while under a suspended sentence Welch is subject to the same rules and conditions as someone on probation, but answers to the court rather than a probation officer. He said if she were to get arrested again or violates any of the rules, the suspensions could be revoked and she could face up to 30 years in prison.
According to the affidavits on the two counts, between July 31 and Sept. 7, Arkansas State Police and DTF investigators used a confidential informant to make a controlled purchase of meth from Welch. A phone call was made to Welch to confirm she could sell the meth and a price was agreed on.
A predetermined location was set up where the transaction would occur. Investigators reportedly recognized the voice on the phone as Welch “through previous encounters” and the phone number was a known number listed for Welch.
Welch was seen driving a gray Toyota 4Runner to the predetermined location and her intermediary, Dakota Dean, 26, was in the front passenger seat. Dean exited the vehicle and sold the meth to the informant. A portion of the substance purchased was field tested and had a positive reaction for meth.
In one instance, the amount purchased was less than two grams, resulting in the charge punishable by up to 10 years. On another occasion under the same scenario, the amount purchased was more than two grams, but less than 10 grams, resulting in the charge punishable by up to 20 years.
The affidavit notes during surveillance of both purchases, Welch and Dean were positively identified by investigators based on photos from the Arkansas Crime Information Center, Justice Exchange and previous encounters.