Guilty plea results in 10-year sentence for drug trafficking

A Hot Springs man was sentenced to over 10 years in federal prison Tuesday for drug trafficking, according to a news release from David Clay Fowlkes, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

Mark Joseph Geurin, 32, was sentenced to 130 months, or 10 years and 10 months, in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of possession with intent to distribute meth after a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs.

According to the release, in February 2018, a Hot Springs police officer attempted to stop a vehicle operated by Geurin for a traffic offense resulting in a high-speed chase, which ended when officers executed a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT, maneuver.

Geurin fled on foot but was apprehended. A search of his person revealed a glass pipe with meth residue and in searching his vehicle they located a jacket behind the driver’s seat that held a baggie with 25 grams of meth. He was transported to the Garland County Detention Center where an additional 10.5 grams of meth were located on his person.

In August 2018, after posting bond from the

February incident, Geurin led Arkansas State Police troopers on a second high-speed chase, reaching speeds of up to 144 mph and nearly colliding with another motorist before he was taken into custody.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2018, pleaded guilty in May 2020 and was formally sentenced Tuesday with Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presiding and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Harris prosecuting the case for the Western District, the release said.