FAYETTEVILLE -- A Nicaraguan man was sentenced to more than 23 years for running a drug ring from prison.
Larry Navarrete, 38, was sentenced on one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration first became aware of Navarrete in 2015 because of his role as a leader of a drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing large quantities of meth in Northwest Arkansas, according to court records.
Navarrete used contraband cellphones while incarcerated in Calipatria, a state prison in California, to direct the shipment of meth and coordinate the payments owed to him. Navarrete was in prison on a state conviction.
Navarrete was indicted and prosecuted in the Western District of Arkansas and was sentenced in May 2017 to serve 20 years in federal prison on one count of conspiracy to distribute meth. Upon returning to Calipatria to serve the remainder of his state sentences, Navarrete again used contraband cellphones to direct the shipment of meth to Arkansas.
Navarrete was indicted in January 2018 and entered a guilty plea in December.
Navarrete will serve the remainder of his state sentence and the two sentences imposed in the federal cases in the federal prison system. The two federal sentences will run consecutive.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing.
NW News on 04/19/2019