A Fort Smith man was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years and six months' imprisonment for being on a Lavaca elementary school's property with drugs and loaded guns in his vehicle.
Esteban Arreola, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes to 210 months in prison and five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in a school zone stemming from a March 14 arrest, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas Conner Eldridge.
On that day, a teacher at Lavaca Elementary School saw a man on school property with a pistol in his vehicle and called police. Officers spotted Arreola's vehicle speeding down the highway, pulled him over and discovered in the vehicle an open container of alcohol and the smell of "freshly burned marijuana," Eldridge said.
After impounding the vehicle, officers also found a loaded rifle and pistol and about 158 grams of methamphetamine, some of which was in small plastic baggies, Eldridge said.
“The realization that this Defendant was on school property with loaded weapons and a significant amount of drugs is extremely frightening," Eldridge said in the statement. "Without the immediate action taken by the teacher and law enforcement, the scenario could have been quite different."