NLR drug dealer caught in sting sentenced to 15 years

A North Little Rock man arrested with about a halfpound of methamphetamine after being caught during a sting operation set up using Facebook has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug dealing.

Amador Evangelista-Mora, 33, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, reduced from Class Y felony drug trafficking, in exchange for the 15-year term imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright, sentencing papers filed Saturday show.

A Class Y felony carries a potential life sentence. The possession charge is a Class A felony that carries six to 30 years. The plea was negotiated by deputy prosecutor Justin Brown and defense attorney David Cannon.

Evangelista-Mora has been jailed since his Sept. 16 arrest at the Walgreen’s drugstore at 5917 Baseline Road in Little Rock after sheriff’s deputies found 265 grams of meth, about 9.3 ounces, wrapped in a grocery bag in a drinking cup in Evangelista-Mora’s Chevrolet S-10, court filings show.

His arrest came a day after sheriff’s deputies got a tip that someone calling himself Kukin Aguirre on Facebook claimed to have “kilos” of meth to sell. Investigators contacted the man using the social media service and arranged to purchase drugs from him at the Goodwill Industries outlet store on Scott Hamilton Drive in Little Rock.

A few minutes later, another man called back and said to meet him at the Walgreen’s because his S-10 pickup had broken down. Undercover officers arrived and found a gray S-10 parked near the store with a man, whom they later identified as Evangelista-Mora, sitting on a nearby curb.

Deputies took him into custody, as Evangelista-Mora complained that he didn’t know why investigators were detaining him. After a search of the truck turned up the drugs, he said something about a “boss” telling him to deliver a “package” to someone at the Walgreen’s, according to an arrest report.

Court records show that Evangelista-Mora was one of four inmates involved in a March 23 fight in the Pulaski County jail.

According to a sheriff’s office report, Evangelista-Mora punched inmates Larry Eugene Drone, 19, of North Little Rock and Lamell Lamont Yancy, 21, of North Little Rock, which started a fight among the three that grew to include two other inmates, Kevontay Barnes, 19, of Little Rock and Oscar Sanchez, 26, of Little Rock.