HOT SPRINGS -- A man arrested last year after a sting operation by the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force was sentenced to 18 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to charges in Garland County Circuit Court.
Charles Lee Camden Jr., 54, who has remained in custody in lieu of bond since his May 28 arrest, pleaded guilty to two counts of delivery of meth, one punishable by up to life in prison and one by up to 20 years. He was sentenced to 10 years and eight years respectively, with the sentences to run consecutively for a total of 18 years.
Two felony counts of unlawful use of a communications device, punishable by up to 10 years, stemming from the sting operation were withdrawn. Prosecutors also withdrew felony charges including simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, maintaining a drug premises, possession of a firearm by certain persons and various possession charges stemming from a search warrant executed in Garland County that resulted in Camden's arrest.
Deputy prosecutor Trent Daniels, the acting commander for the drug task force, told The Sentinel-Record on Tuesday that Camden's arrest was part of a five-month operation early last year targeting meth distribution in Garland County by a group with Aryan Brotherhood ties. The operation resulted in 32 arrests and the recovery of more than 4 pounds of meth.
According to a probable cause affidavit, between March 1 and April 30, drug task force agents utilized a confidential informant to make two controlled purchases of meth from Camden at predetermined locations in Hot Springs and Garland County.
Shortly after 4 a.m. on May 28, drug task force agents and an Arkansas State Police SWAT team executed the warrant at a residence on Pocola Drive in the area of Thornton Ferry Road, according to the affidavit on a search warrant. Camden, among others, was arrested.
Inside a trailer, agents located 13.8 grams of meth, digital scales, smoking devices, 47 grams of fake meth, and other items of drug paraphernalia, authorities said. Gun holsters, gun cases and a small bucket of .22-caliber ammunition were recovered along with multiple Nazi photos and a poster, agents said.
State Desk on 01/16/2020