A Texarkana man charged as a result of a 2011 drug-trafficking investigation was sentenced Thursday to eight years in prison for cocaine distribution, U.S. Attorney Conner Eldridge said.
Terreal Duke, 32, sold a confidential informant 54 grams of crack cocaine for $1,200 on Nov. 2, 2010, and when he was being arrested tried to swallow a baggie containing more than 13 grams of cocaine, according to court documents.
Duke was part of a 190-count indictment filed in September 2011 that named 66 defendants who have since been prosecuted and received a combined 377 years, Eldridge said.
Duke was sentenced on two counts of "using a communication facility in furtherance of the distribution of cocaine," and each count netted him four years in prison with no possibility of parole, Eldridge said. In addition, U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey sentenced him to two years of supervised release.