Man Sentenced To 15 Years In Drug Case

Mays
Mays

BENTONVILLE -- A Rogers man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug crimes, but he still faces a charge for attempting to hire a hit man.

Leo Mays, 50, pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of methamphetamine with the purpose to deliver and possession of a controlled substance. The plea came under an agreement attorney David Hogue reached with Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecutor.

Mays was arrested Dec. 11, 2013.

Cearley told Circuit Judge Robin Green that Mays' arrest was the result of information police learned after they searched a home. Later, during a traffic stop, Mays was found with 11 grams of methamphetamine. He also had Oxycodone pills, but he had no prescription for them.

Green accepted the plea agreement and Mays' guilty pleas.

Mays was sentenced to 15 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction in connection with the methamphetamine conviction. He received six years for the Oxycodone case. The two sentences will be served concurrently.

He still faces the possibility of more prison time in connection with trying to hire a hit man.

Mays was arrested again Jan. 22. He's charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder, a Class A felony punishable from six to 30 years in prison.

A confidential informant told a Benton County Sheriff's Office detective Mays planned to murder a man he believed provided information to law enforcement that led to his arrest on drug charges.

Detectives believe Mays planned to coax the man to Kansas City, Mo., where he would be shot and killed by associates of Mays, according to court documents.

An informant told Mays it would cost $5,000 to hire a friend to kill the man. Mays said he would pay that amount.

A pre-trial hearing is set for April 6. A jury trial is scheduled to begin April 7.

Mays is being held in the Benton County Jail on a $500,000 bond in the murder-for-hire case.

NW News on 12/19/2014

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