Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
FORT SMITH – A Van Buren, Arkansas woman and a Los Angeles, California man have been sentenced to more than 324 months, combined, in prison for crimes related to drug trafficking. The Honorable Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearings for the United States District Court in Fort Smith.
According to court documents, in July of 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), along with investigators with the Fort Smith Police Department, initiated an investigation into a drug trafficking organization operating in the Fort Smith division responsible for distributing methamphetamine. During their investigations, investigators identified Whitney Laxton-Claybaugh, age 34, as a member of this local group. She was subsequently charged with various drug and money laundering offenses connected to drug trafficking.
Laxton-Claybaughwas sentenced to 214 months in prison for Conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments after she wired thousands of dollars in methamphetamine trafficking proceeds in an attempt to conceal the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the funds derived from methamphetamine trafficking.
Laxton-Claybaugh’s co-defendant, Alciviades Alvarado-Juarez, age 21, was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison for Possession with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Alvardo-Juarez was indicted by a Grand Jury after a search warrant by the Federal Bureau of Investigations of a Fort Smith hotel showed Alvardo-Juarez to be in possession of over five hundred grams of methamphetamine.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations, Fort Smith Resident Office, and the Fort Smith Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Allison prosecuted the case.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov