David Clay Fowlkes, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas
A woman from Van Buren, Arkansas, and a man from Los Angeles, California, have been sentenced to a total of over 27 years in federal prison for drug trafficking offenses. The sentences were handed down by Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey at the United States District Court in Fort Smith.
The investigation began in July 2023 when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Fort Smith Police Department looked into a drug trafficking organization operating in the Fort Smith area. Whitney Laxton-Claybaugh, aged 34, was identified as part of this group and faced charges related to drug and money laundering activities.
Laxton-Claybaugh received a sentence of 214 months for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. She was found guilty of wiring methamphetamine trafficking proceeds to hide their origin and ownership.
Her co-defendant, Alciviades Alvarado-Juarez, aged 21, was sentenced to ten years for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. A search warrant executed by the FBI at a Fort Smith hotel revealed that Alvarado-Juarez had over five hundred grams of methamphetamine.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes from the Western District of Arkansas announced these developments. The case was investigated by the FBI's Fort Smith Resident Office and the Fort Smith Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Allison prosecuted it.
This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) initiative aimed at dismantling high-level criminal organizations through a coordinated approach involving multiple agencies.
