Trent Porter, 38, of Beebe, was sentenced on July 22 to 324 months in federal prison after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl resulting in death. The sentence was announced by Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and handed down by United States District Judge James M. Moody, Jr.
Porter will also serve three years of supervised release following his imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. Porter was indicted along with Lamont Kirk, 50, and Willie Johnson, 43, both of Little Rock. All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to distributing fentanyl that led to the death of an individual identified as D.R., according to court documents. Kirk received a sentence of 13 years on October 29, 2025; Johnson received more than 14 years on November 7, 2025.
The investigation began after Little Rock Police Department officers responded on August 20, 2023, to a distress call at a residence where D.R. was found deceased from what a state medical examiner determined was a lethal dose of fentanyl. Authorities believe D.R. died after ingesting one pill obtained from Kirk at his residence earlier that day.
Subsequent searches and surveillance led officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Little Rock Police Department to discover that Kirk had obtained the pills from Johnson two days prior; Johnson had acquired them from Porter. Officers stopped Johnson’s vehicle and found him carrying nearly one hundred pills containing fentanyl; later that day they located Porter with over three hundred pills in his possession and an additional sixteen hundred pills at his home.
Porter was already on active parole at the time and had several prior felony convictions including multiple counts related to controlled substances as well as aggravated assault and firearms offenses. He is classified as a career offender due to having at least two prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Little Rock Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Chris Givens. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas prosecutes federal crimes across forty-one counties organized into Northern, Central and Delta divisions; it also promotes community safety through victim assistance efforts as part of its role within the U.S. Department of Justice, according to its official website.