Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Hot Springs, Arkansas – David Clay Fowlkes, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced today that Buddy Lee Harris, age 42, of Pearcy, Arkansas, was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of Distribution of Methamphetamine and one count of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime. The Honorable Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Hot Springs.

In the fall of 2019, detectives with the 18th Judicial Drug Task Force launched an investigation into drug trafficking in the Western District of Arkansas. In August of 2019, detectives conducted a controlled purchase of methamphetamine and a firearm from Harris.

Harris was indicted by a federal grand jury in November of 2019, and entered a guilty plea in May of 2020.

This case was investigated by the 18th Judicial Drug Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations Little Rock and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Assistant United States Attorney Bryan Achorn and Special Assistant United States Attorney Trent Daniels prosecuted the case for the Western District of Arkansas.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), 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. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

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