Pot Charges Against California Man Dropped

— Federal prosecutors dropped charges against one of two men arrested at the Springdale Municipal Airport in connection with possession of $500,000 of marijuana.

Charges against Damieon Dayon Foster, 36, of Eureka, Calif., were dropped earlier this month at the request of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Foster said he was a passenger on the plane and did not know the marijuana was aboard.

Foster and Karl Frank Sperling, 35, of Arcata, Calif., were arrested in November.

Sperling waived indictment and pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with prosecutors Tuesday to possessing less than 50 kilograms of marijuana with intent to deliver. Sperling will be sentenced at a later date. Sperling forfeited a computer and $1,564 cash.

Sperling faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Police found 133 pounds of marijuana in the rented Columbia 400 airplane the men flew from Eureka to Las Vegas, N.M., to Springdale, according to the affidavit filed with the complaint.

The airplane flight was monitored by Homeland Security after it flew without a flight plan and didn’t respond to contact efforts. Homeland Security officers called the Springdale airport and local police after the airplane landed. A drug dog made a positive hit on the airplane.

The vacuum sealed marijuana was found in several duffle bags in the passenger compartment.

A federal criminal complaint charged both men with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

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