Long Valley Man Gets 4-Year Prison Term In Arkansas Meth Distribution Sting

A Long Valley man who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine was sentenced to 48 months in an Arkansas prison and three years of supervised release after a months-long sting operation.

Anthony Winters, 51, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2014 after he was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on May 7, 2014 for his role in a methamphetamine distribution ring, according to the Department of Justice.

Beginning in Oct. 2013, Drug Enforcement Administration agents, along with county and state police in Arkansas, initiated an investigation into a drug trafficking organization that involved multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine in southwest Arkansas.

As the investigation evolved, authorities learned Winters was an out-of-state distributor of multi-ounce quantities of methamphetamine that originated in Clark County, Arkansas.

In April 2014, Winters traveled from New Jersey to Arkansas to pick up a supply of the narcotic and bring it back to the Garden State for distribution, authorities said.

Winters bought a shrink-wrapped block of counterfeit substance represented to be a half-pound of methamphetamine, authorities said.

Winters gave the dealer – an undercover agent – two signed business account checks, and told the agent he’d be selling the methamphetamine for $3,000 an ounce in New Jersey.

Once the transaction was completed, Winters was stopped in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and arrested on a federal warrant. The counterfeit substance Winters had recently bought was found wrapped in a red sleeping bag in the rear passenger area of the pickup truck he was driving.

Winters was sentenced on Friday, April 3.

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