Indiana Man Sentenced To Over 8 Years In Federal Prison For Drug Trafficking

Hot Springs, Arkansas - Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Mark C. Smith, age 29, of Indianapolis, Indiana was sentenced today to 97 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release on one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine and one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana. The Honorable Susan O. Hickey, United States District Judge, presided over the sentencing hearing in Hot Springs.

According to court records, on May 24, 2016, Smith, while driving a vehicle on Interstate 30 near Malvern, Arkansas, was stopped by a state trooper for a traffic violation. After a K-9 alerted to the presence of a controlled substance, the vehicle was searched and an officer located packaged bundles under the steering column. The substance inside the bundles field tested positive for cocaine and weighed approximately 2,000 grams. Smith possessed $7,849.00 of U.S. currency on his person as well as a Walmart receipt for an I-phone purchased in Dallas on May 22, 2016.

The detectives submitted the drugs seized from Smith's vehicle (in Arkansas) to the Arkansas State Crime Lab, which confirmed that the substance recovered contained cocaine and weighed 1,966.5 grams.  

On or about March 16, 2015, near midnight, Smith was stopped in a GMC Yukon after suspicious activity was observed by law enforcement in an industrial area in Evansville, Indiana. A K-9 alerted to the presence of a controlled substance in the vehicle and Smith was arrested for resisting law enforcement and for driving on a suspended driver's license.  After obtaining a search warrant, the vehicle was searched and found to contain twenty gray duct taped packages each containing marijuana, weighing a total of 497 pounds (225 kilograms). Also seized were four cellular telephones from the vehicle and $2,082.00 from Smith's pocket.

A federal grand jury indicted Smith in April 2015 (Indiana) and in June 2016 (Arkansas), and he pled guilty in January 2018.

This case was investigated by the Arkansas State Police and the Indiana State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Amy Driver prosecuted the case for the United States.