The last of the Operation Delta Blues defendants was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Little Rock.
The multiagency, FBI-led drug-trafficking investigation focused on the Arkansas Delta -- the cities of Marianna and Helena-West Helena in particular. It went on quietly behind the scenes for several years until early on Oct. 11, 2011, when about 800 law enforcement officers fanned out across the area to round up most of the 71 defendants named in eight indictments.
Those arrested included major drug dealers and five law enforcement officers, most of whom went on to plead guilty, while others were convicted at trial. But it wasn't until Jan. 10, 2015, after some defendants had completed their prison sentences, that the sole remaining fugitive -- Milton "Bump" Johnson of Helena-West Helena -- was captured in eastern Tennessee.
Johnson, now 43, was charged with three counts regarding a 94-count indictment that focused on the Delta drug ring. On Sept. 29, more than four years after he was charged and eight months after his capture, he pleaded guilty to the main charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in return for his remaining charges -- two counts of using a telephone in furtherance of a drug crime -- being dropped.
At his sentencing Wednesday afternoon, Johnson told U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr.: "I learned my lesson. I know I'm here today because of bad choices I've made."
Noting that he is now finally in a position to make better choices, he said he has actually found "relief" as a result of his arrest after years of hiding from the law.
Moody sentenced Johnson to 54 months -- or 41/2 years -- in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. Federal sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of up to 71 months -- or just under six years -- in prison, while federal statutes allowed a maximum of 40 years behind bars.
At the request of defense attorney Blake Hendrix of Little Rock, the judge also ordered Johnson to participate in substance-abuse treatment while in prison. In addition, the judge recommended that Johnson participate in prison vocational and educational programs and take part in additional behavioral treatment once he is released under the supervision of probation officers.
Moody noted that just before the hearing, he received letters from Johnson's family members asking for leniency. Johnson's mother, siblings and fiancee were in the courtroom to show support for him until just before the hearing began, but the judge excluded them from the sentencing itself at Johnson's request.
Johnson's sentence range was calculated partly on the circumstance that another defendant in the conspiracy had possessed a gun, as well as a 1998 drug conviction on Johnson's record and his time as a fugitive.
Johnson was given credit, however, for pleading guilty, and Hendrix argued that he deserved leniency for his role as a "middle man" instead of a supplier or distributor. Hendrix said Johnson connected the major drug distributors in the area, including Sedrick Trice and Leon Edwards, with suppliers.
Trice and Edwards were considered the leaders of the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Trice was sentenced to 40 years in prison, and Edwards was sentenced to 22 years.
The two other defendants who were considered to be the top drug dealers in the Delta Blues investigation are Torrence Turner, who is serving a 30-year sentence on a guilty plea, and Demetrius Colbert, who is serving a life sentence after being convicted by a jury of drug trafficking as well as shooting an FBI agent in the leg during the execution of the warrants.
Hendrix told the judge Wednesday that Johnson was raised in Helena-West Helena, "a place that doesn't provide great opportunities" and that he struggled after his parents divorced early in his life. Hendrix noted that Johnson has strong family support and that his children are doing better than him, with one of them now a sophomore in college and the other pursuing a master's degree.
Hendrix said Johnson has been an exemplary inmate. The defense attorney also noted that as the oldest of several children, Johnson took care of his younger siblings when his mother returned to school, which Hendrix said demonstrated that "there is something redemptive about him."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters noted Johnson's previous conviction, in which he was caught with 100 pounds of cocaine in his car, in arguing that "this is not his first rodeo." She also challenged Hendrix's assertion about his "middle man" role in the conspiracy, saying, "He is certainly a supplier."
But Peters agreed that the penalty range suggested by federal sentencing guidelines reflected his role in the conspiracy.
Metro on 02/04/2016