A Hot Springs felon characterized as a "major player" in drug trafficking in Hot Springs and Garland County was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison Friday on felony charges after a hearing in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs.
Robert Arthur Blackstead Jr., 56, was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2019 on felony counts of possession with intent to distribute meth and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2019, Acting U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes said in a news release Friday.
In addition to the prison sentence, Blackstead must complete three years of supervised probation after his release.
According to the release, in January 2019, investigators with the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force and agents with Homeland Security Investigations in Little Rock launched an investigation into Blackstead's drug trafficking in the Western District of Arkansas.
Blackstead was "known to be a high-ranking official in the Aryan Brotherhood," Garland County Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Lawrence, who oversees the DTF, had said in an earlier news release.
Over the course of the investigation, investigators were able to conduct three controlled purchases of meth from Blackstead, all involving "substantial quantities of meth," Lawrence said.
During his arrest on Feb. 20, 2019, a search of his residence was conducted and three firearms, two sets of body armor, 41 grams of meth and numerous other narcotics and items of paraphernalia were found, she said.
Blackstead, who has multiple felony convictions and was on active parole at the time, was distributing large quantities of meth and firearms in Hot Springs and various areas in Garland County, Lawrence said.
Blackstead's arrest was part of "Operation Blue Sky," a multiagency sting the DTF conducted targeting meth distribution. The operation ultimately resulted in the arrest of 32 suspects and the recovery of over 4 pounds of meth.
Federal authorities assumed all the cases against Blackstead, who was considered a "major player" in the drug ring, Deputy Prosecutor Trent Daniels, the acting commander of the DTF, told The Sentinel-Record in December 2019.
"Operation Blue Sky," named for the particularly potent strain of meth manufactured by the fictional characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman on the television show "Breaking Bad," ultimately led back to meth distributors who had ties to a Mexican Cartel.
Friday's case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Harris as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program "bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone," Fowlkes said in the release.