LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas man has now been sentenced to more than a decade in a federal prison for illegally possessing cocaine with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a federal drug-trafficking crime.
In March 2021, troopers with Arkansas State Police responded to a car accident in the median of I-530 after they had received reports of a vehicle driving recklessly.
Police located 39-year-old Tristan Larandell Lee of Pine Bluff asleep in the driver's seat. A trooper knocked on a window to wake him up and Lee proceeded to turn on the vehicle and try to drive off.
Officials ordered Lee to step out of the vehicle but he refused. The trooper then opened the passenger door to remove him and then placed him into custody for combative behavior.
During a search of his vehicle, officials found cocaine, heroin, marijuana, assorted pills, drug paraphernalia, and an Anderson Manufacturing, AM-15 rifle with a 60-round drum magazine.
On June 8, 2022, Lee was indicted by a federal grand jury on counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin, one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
He was sentenced to 10 years for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and five years for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, consecutively.
In addition, Lee received five years of supervised release.
