A Craighead County woman who pleaded guilty to helping smuggle contraband into the Dallas County jail in Fordyce in 2017 was sentenced Friday to three years' probation by a federal judge for her part in the conspiracy.
DeKimberol Brewer, 39, of Jonesboro pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker on July 16, 2020, to one count of conspiracy to provide and possess a prohibited object in prison in exchange for the government's agreement to dismiss two additional counts of aiding and abetting did provide/attempted to provide prohibited objects to a prisoner -- tobacco and marijuana in one count and cocaine and heroin in the other.
Brewer was accused of handing off two packages to a jailer -- Laron Williams -- at the Dallas County jail in Fordyce to be delivered to three inmates being held on federal charges, one of whom was her husband, Albert Brewer. The other two inmates were Terry McClendon and Antonio Fowler.
All five were indicted April 3, 2019, by a federal grand jury in Little Rock on charges ranging from conspiracy to drug possession and drug distribution.
In August 2017, court records said McClendon approached Williams with an offer to pay him to bring tobacco and marijuana into the jail. On Sept. 4, 2017, Williams met DeKimberol Brewer in the jail parking lot, where she handed him a package wrapped in black tape to deliver to McClendon. In addition to tobacco and marijuana, court documents said the FBI learned through witness interviews that a cell phone was also in the package, though none of the contraband was ever recovered.
Four days later, Williams received a second package from another person, identified in court records as "Individual A," who also met Williams in the jail parking lot. Documents said Williams delivered the package wrapped in a blanket to McClendon the following day.
After a jail employee saw Williams deliver the second package, a search of the pod where McClendon, Fowler, and Michael Brewer were held was conducted, during which officers discovered about 1.5 pounds each of cocaine and heroin inside a pillowcase on one of the beds in the pod.
DeKimberol Brewer's attorney, Robert Tellez of North Little Rock, asked Baker to sentence his client to probation, pointing out that she had committed no violations of her pre-trial release conditions since she was granted release after her arrest. Tellez told Baker he had received an email from Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters, who is prosecuting the case, telling him that the government would not oppose probation.
He said during the time he has represented his client, she had "conducted herself in an honest and forthright manner" to him.
"She's been very courageous, she's always admitted to the circumstances of what she participating in in this case and she has also held her ground on the things she didn't do," Tellez said. "She's done well on pre-trial release, she stays in contact with me and she's been a great client."
Under U.S. sentencing statutes, Brewer could have faced a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of $250,000. Under sentencing guidelines, the sentencing recommendation was a term of zero to six months in prison or up to three years probation and a fine ranging from $9,500 to $95,000.
In announcing the sentence, Baker also ordered Brewer to seek substance abuse and mental health treatment as directed by the U.S. Probation Office and to perform 100 hours of community service.
All of Brewer's co-defendants have pleaded guilty in the case, each to a single count of conspiracy to provide and possess a prohibited object in prison, in exchange for dismissal of any remaining charges.
Michael Brewer was sentenced December 13 to a five year prison term in addition to a 96-month prison term he was sentenced to in 2020 on a drug conspiracy indictment for which he was being held in the Dallas County jail at the time of the instant offense.
McClendon was sentenced September 2 to five years in prison to run consecutively to a five year sentence he received in 2017 on a federal count of possession of a stolen firearm, for which he was being held at the time of the instant offense in the Dallas County jail.
Fowler pleaded guilty on December 17 and scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 4. He was sentenced to 10 years in 2018 on a count of possession of a stolen firearm, for which he was being held in the Dallas County jail at the time of the instant offense.
Williams, the former jailer, was sentenced to three years probation on Oct. 26.