3 plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute narcotics charges

LITTLE ROCK — As a looming trial date draws near for defendants named in a drug trafficking indictment involving associates of a violent street gang, three more defendants pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to distribute narcotics in federal court.

Nicholas “Nick” Rogers of Pine Bluff, Timothy “Big Baby” Parker of Little Rock, and Kobi Knight of Little Rock, all members of Every Body Killas (EBK) pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. to conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Rogers, who is named in a second, related, indictment charging associates of a rival street gang — Lodi Murder Mobb — with drug trafficking crimes, as well as a third, unrelated, federal indictment charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm, pleaded guilty to the drug conspiracy count and to the firearm possession count in exchange for the dismissal of all other federal counts against him.

Rogers, 31, represented by Omar Greene of Little Rock, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute between 20 and 40 kilograms of marijuana and to possession of a firearm by a felon and agreed that when he is sentenced in the drug conspiracy case, the sentence will run consecutive to whatever sentence he receives in the firearm case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Fields said that point could be litigated when Rogers is sentenced on the firearm count. Rogers is facing a possible maximum prison term of five years, a $250,000 fine and a term of supervised release ranging between 2 years and life.

Parker, 56, represented by Mark Hampton of Little Rock, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to distribute between 5 and 15 kilograms of cocaine and is facing a potential sentence ranging from 10 years to life in prison when he returns for sentencing, a fine of up to $10 million, and 5 years to life on supervised release when he leaves prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters said that between March 2021 and November 2022, Parker conspired with co-defendants Knight, Broderick “Money” Chunn, Edward House II, LC Davis, and Eric Avett to distribute cocaine in and around Central Arkansas. Peters said the five men were intercepted talking on Parker’s cell phone over a three week period in July 2022 after investigators placed a wiretap on his phone.

Peters said Parker was also intercepted discussing drug transactions on earlier wiretaps that had been placed on cell phones belonging to co-defendants Jeremy Green and Donald Teague, and was intercepted discussing a purchase of a half-kilogram of cocaine.

Knight, 46, represented by Joe Perry of Marianna, pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with conspiracy to distribute between 500 grams and 2 kilograms of cocaine in June and July of 2022 and faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine and 3 years to life on supervised release when he is sentenced. Although Knight was alleged to have conspired with Parker and Chunn, Perry asked to clarify that Knight had never met Chunn.

“Obviously, he knew what Mr. Parker was doing,” Perry said. “He knew it had to have come from somebody but Mr. Knight did not know Mr. Chunn … He’s admitting to the facts with that one caveat, that he did not know Mr. Chunn.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner, who stood in at Knight’s hearing for Fields and Peters, said that would not pose a problem.

“He’s pleading to conspiracy,” Gardner said. “It’s not required that he know Mr. Chunn.”