An Arkansas man identified as the primary distributor in a fentanyl ring responsible for thousands of pills, including one that caused a fatal overdose, was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison today.
U.S. District Judge James M. Moody, Jr. ordered 38-year-old Trent Porter to serve 324 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release after Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl resulting in death. Federal prison sentences do not include parole.
Jonathan D. Ross, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentencing.
A federal grand jury previously indicted Porter alongside co-defendants Lamont Kirk, 50, and Willie Johnson, 43, both of Little Rock, for their roles in the operation. On June 25, 2025, all three men pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge during separate court hearings.
Kirk was sentenced on Oct. 29, 2025, to 13 years in federal prison. Johnson was sentenced on Nov. 7, 2025, to more than 14 years.
The investigation began on Aug. 20, 2023, when Little Rock Police Department officers responded to a distress call at a local residence and found an individual, identified in court documents as D.R., deceased. A state medical examiner determined the cause of death was a lethal dose of fentanyl, believed to be from ingesting a single pill.
Law enforcement determined that D.R. purchased the pill from Kirk at Kirk’s residence on the day of the overdose.
On Aug. 23, 2023, officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Little Rock Police Department executed a search warrant at Kirk’s residence, recovering a firearm and a small quantity of narcotics. Investigators learned Kirk had acquired the pills from Johnson two days prior.
Later that day, officers surveilling Johnson conducted a traffic stop on his vehicle and recovered 99 pills containing fentanyl from his pocket. The investigation revealed Johnson had obtained those pills from Porter.
Officers subsequently located Porter in his vehicle and found a bottle containing 308 fentanyl pills in his pocket. A search of Porter’s residence yielded an additional 1,617 fentanyl pills.
At the time of the offense, Porter was on active parole and had multiple prior felony convictions, including possession with intent to deliver controlled substances, maintaining a drug premises, aggravated assault, possession of firearms by certain persons, breaking and entering, fleeing, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Due to having at least two prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses, Porter was classified under federal guidelines as a career offender.
The DEA investigated the case with assistance from the Little Rock Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens prosecuted the case.
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