Fayetteville Man Sentenced To Over 7 Years In Federal Prison For Drug Trafficking

Fayetteville, Arkansas - Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Leander Shepard, age 60, of Fayetteville, Arkansas was sentenced today to 87 months in federal prison followed by four years of supervised release on one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. The Honorable Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fayetteville.

According to court records, In early 2018, detectives with the 4^th Judicial Drug Task Force (hereinafter “D.T.F.”) were contacted and advised of a person in California that was requesting an address in Fayetteville, Arkansas to ship a significant quantity of methamphetamine. On March 6, 2018, D.T.F. detectives located a known vacant residence in Fayetteville (hereinafter “the residence”). On March 8, 2018, the D.T.F. was informed that the California contact had sent a package containing drugs overnight via U.S. Mail to the residence with a projected delivery of 10:00am on March 9.

On March 9, 2018, D.T.F. detectives conducted surveillance of the residence. At approximately 10:00 am, a vehicle driven by Shepard arrived in front of the residence and parked nearby. At 10:40 am, a U.S. Mail postal carrier arrived in front of the residence and exited his vehicle with a package. Detectives observed Shepard approach the postal carrier in an attempt to retrieve the package. The postal carrier advised Shepard that he needed to place the package on the porch. Once on the porch, Shepard picked up the package and was confronted by D.T.F. detectives. The package was found to contain approximately one pound of methamphetamine and five pounds of marijuana.

The suspected methamphetamine was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab were it was tested and determined to contain actual methamphetamine.

A federal grand jury indicted Shepard in April 2018, and he pled guilty in August 2018.

This case was investigated by the 4^th Judicial Drug Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Denis Dean prosecuted the case for the United States.

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Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov

CONTACT: Charlie Robbins

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