Two of the five final defendants up for sentencing on drug conspiracy charges in a wide-ranging and long-running drug and racketeering conspiracy prosecution that targeted members and associates of a notorious white supremacist group out of Pope County were sentenced in federal court this week.
One of the defendants hugged and thanked the prosecutor after she was sentenced to time served and given a year's home detention.
Brittanie Handley, 27, of Atkins, was sentenced Wednesday to time served for the 90 days she spent in custody during an intensive, state-administered drug rehabilitation program and was ordered to spend the next three years under federal supervision with one year of that to be spent in home detention, a more restrictive form of supervised release.
Thomas Plaisance Jr., 45, of Dover was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.
Handley and Plaisance were among the original 44 defendants named in a 2017 indictment charging them with drug conspiracy and distribution of methamphetamine.
In 2019, another 11 defendants were added to the indictment, some with charges related to conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statute in connection with violence perpetrated by members of the New Aryan Empire, a white supremacist gang that began in the Pope County jail in the 1990s and spread to the state prison system and later into the free world as members were released from prison.
Handley's attorney, Sara Merritt of Sherwood, asked U.S. District Judge Brian Miller to consider a downward departure from the guideline sentencing range of 30 to 37 months in prison, which was already a downward departure from the federal statutory mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. Merritt pointed out that Handley had no criminal history and that her behavior since her arrest and while on pre-trial release had been exemplary with no violations.
"We're hoping the court will depart and give her probation," Merritt said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Liza Jane Brown gave no objection to a more lenient sentence.
"This is not an easy sentencing. You've got a defendant who completed drug court while she was out on pre-trial release, which doesn't happen," Brown told Miller, then added for emphasis, "Ever."
Brown explained that Handley's involvement was limited to service to a co-defendant higher up in the conspiracy and that Handley herself was not a member of and had no involvement with the New Aryan Empire.
As Miller wrestled with the decision, Brown said an appropriate sentence could be measured against others who had received terms of probation or sentenced to time served. Miller pointed out that even those defendants who received probation had spent several months -- or even years -- in jail after pleading guilty because of federal laws requiring pre-sentencing incarceration for some crimes.
"The law is that if you are found guilty of a drug crime and it carries up to or more than 10 years in prison, I'm required to take you into custody right then," Miller said. "Even if you've done well on pretrial release, I have to take you into custody."
Miller said Handley avoided detention because she entered her plea in 2020 as the covid-19 pandemic was just gaining steam and the federal court system was working with jails to limit detentions as a way of avoiding having the virus run unchecked through jail populations.
Brown pointed out that Handley had been incarcerated for three months in a state community correction center after being sentenced through drug court.
The state Department of Corrections' Division of Community Correction, formerly known as the Department of Community Correction, operates the state's community correction centers.
Most of the state's prison inmates are held in more-secure lockups operated by the Corrections Department's Division of Correction.
"I want the court to understand you have [what's now known as the Division of Correction] and then you have [community corrections centers]," Brown said. "They're both prison but she had to go down for 90 days for intensive drug treatment during that time to a CCC facility, which is essentially [the Correction Division]. I think that's important for this court to understand."
Handley told Miller she was sentenced by the drug court in 2017 before she knew of the federal charges against her. But even before the indictment, she said, she had decided to turn her life around. Since then, she said, she has been free of drugs, has been steadily employed and had even been approved for veterinary school through her employer.
"I can't explain enough how sorry I am for the things I've done," Handley said.
Handley explained how the treatment offered through the drug court had taught her "a lot of amazing things" and where she learned to love herself and to become comfortable with herself without drugs.
Following a brief conference with the attorneys, Miller sentenced Handley to 90 days in prison with credit for time served and waived the location monitoring requirement for her term of home detention. He warned her that court officers would check in on her randomly to ensure she was where she was supposed to be.
"That way you can continue with your job, but understand if you violate -- your home detention is a kind of a prison, but if you violate, you'll go to a real prison," Miller said.
As she rose from the defense table at the conclusion of hearing, Handley walked across the courtroom to Brown and embraced her.
"Thank you," she said, crying softly. "Thank you for everything."
Remaining to be sentenced are Lesa Standridge of Dover, Bradley Chambers of Russellville and Marcus Millsap of Danville.
Standridge, 57, is scheduled for sentencing Wednesday at 11 a.m. on her guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
Chambers, 38, is scheduled for sentencing the same day at 1:30 p.m. on his guilty plea to aiding and abetting violence in aid of racketeering, including kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon and maiming, for his part in the beating and maiming of an Atkins man and a Dardanelle woman whom gang members believed were going to testify against another gang member suspected of a shooting in 2016.
Millsap, 54, was found guilty by a jury in September 2021 on charges of conspiracy to violate RICO, aiding and abetting attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. No sentencing date has been set yet for Millsap.
Troy Loadholdt, 40, of Russellville, has been missing since 2017 and is considered to be a fugitive.