Fayetteville Man Sentenced to Federal Prison For Drugs and Firearm Charges

Fayetteville, Arkansas – Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas announced today that, James Blair, age 59, was sentenced today to 103 months in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release on one count of Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine and one count of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Offense. The Honorable Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearings today in the United States District Court in Fayetteville.

In the month of April 2019, detectives with the Fourth Judicial District Drug Task Force began investigating the defendant Blair for trafficking methamphetamine in the Western District of Arkansas, Fayetteville Division.

During the investigation, Detectives learned that Blair would be travelling to the Tulsa Oklahoma area to re-supply methamphetamine. On May 12, 2019, upon his return to Fayetteville from Tulsa, Detectives stopped the vehicle and made contact with Blair.  During the stop, Detectives located a firearm on Blair’s person.  A search of the vehicle resulted in Detectives locating a distribution amount of methamphetamine on the floorboard.

The methamphetamine was subsequently sent to the DEA Southeast Laboratory in Miami, Florida and tested positive for 182 grams of methamphetamine. Blair was indicted by a federal grand jury in June of 2019 and entered a guilty plea in September of 2019. 

This case was investigated by the State of Arkansas Fourth (4^th) Judicial District Drug Task Force.  Assistant United States Attorney David Harris prosecuted the case for the Western District of Arkansas.