A former North Little Rock police officer who was one of 22 people indicted last year in an effort to break up a large methamphetamine-trafficking ring in Central Arkansas pleaded guilty Friday to a single conspiracy charge.
Oather Lee Fulmer, 45, of Cabot admitted to U.S. District Judge James Moody that he bought and sold between 350 and 500 grams, or 12.3 to 17.6 ounces, of the drug between 2006 and June 7, 2011.
Fulmer was an officer with the North Little Rock Police Department from Feb. 2, 1990, until he resigned on May 16, 2002.
He was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2011 as part of a five-year investigation dubbed “Operation Big Winner.”
Three Arkansas Lottery winners and a Benton attorney, Dustin Dyer, were among those indicted.
Many of the defendants have since pleaded guilty, and more plea changes are scheduled for next week. Still, at least six people are expected to go to trial before a federal jury beginning Oct. 5.
Fulmer stood before U.S. District Judge James Moody on Friday with defense attorney Lea Ellen Fowler by his side and pleaded guilty to a new charge - a superseding information - accusing him specifically of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute between 50 and 500 grams of methamphetamine.
In return for his guilty plea, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner asked Moody to dismiss two other charges Fulmer faced in the indictment, and Moody agreed. They were a conspiracy charge,carrying a penalty range of 10 years to life and a fine of up to $10 million, as well as a possession-of-methamphetamine charge for which he faced up to 20 years in prison.
Under the charge to which he pleaded guilty, Fulmer faces 5 to 40 years in prison, a fine of up to $5 million and at least four years of supervised release, or probation, when he is sentenced at a later date.
Gardner told the judge that Daniel Henry, a methamphetamine dealer, would have testified at trial that Fulmer purchased various quantifies of the drug from him under the name “Lebo.” She said that federal agents, who had wiretapped Henry’s phone, overheard 11 conversations in which Fulmer asked Henry about getting methamphetamine. Fulmer was also video-recorded selling 1 gram of the drug to someone, she said.
In announcing the indictment last year, U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer told reporters that the methamphetamine ring was distributing “multipound quantities” of the drug, known as “ice,” that was brought into central Arkansas from Mexico. Ice is a potent, crystallized form of the drug.
Fulmer wore mustard-colored jail clothing indicating he is a trusty at the Pulaski County jail. When the judge said he would remand him back into state custody, Fowler clarified that he isn’t being held on a criminal charge, but on a “pickup order” for pastdue child support that he expects to resolve soon.
Moody agreed Monday to sever Dyer’s case from the others, and scheduled a separate trial date for him beginning Jan. 14. The severance was granted after federal prosecutors said that while Dyer faces two charges, he isn’t accused in the main charge of conspiracy to possess with the intent to delivermethamphetamine.
“The majority of the evidence to be offered at trial does not relate to the charges” against Dyer, prosecutors said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 09/22/2012