FAYETTEVILLE – A Springdale man was sentenced on March 2, 2022, to 144 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on one count of Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm and one count of Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Offense. The Honorable Judge Timothy L. Brooks presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fayetteville.
According to court documents, on October 27, 2020, detectives with the 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force (DTF) received information that Dylan Leon Coats, age 32, was staying at a hotel in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The information received was that Coats was in possession of a large amount of methamphetamine and that he was armed with a firearm.
Detectives located Coats as he arrived and parked at the hotel. A search of the vehicle resulted in detectives locating and seizing 3 firearms, a distribution amount of methamphetamine packaged for sale, $10,646.00 in U.S. currency, drug ledgers, baggies, a digital scale and a box of ammunition. Coats is a convicted felon and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
The 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Harris prosecuted the case.
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.