LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The final defendant in a 17-person drug indictment was sentenced in federal court to a lengthy prison sentence Tuesday.

The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas announced today that Darrell “Shawn” Walls of Little Rock was sentenced to 233 months, followed by five years supervised release in a Tuesday hearing in federal court.

The conviction of the 35-year-old Walls was the final step in a large-scale central Arkansas fentanyl drug ring investigation and series of trials. The Eastern District announced indictments against Walls and 16 others in 2019.

Walls pleaded guilty in August 2021 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute between 1.2 and 4 kilograms of fentanyl. Walls admitted in his pleading that he was part of a conspiracy along with other large-scale narcotics dealers like co-defendants Desmond Kelley, Javion Robinson, and Jaylon Livingston to distribute fentanyl in the greater Little Rock area.

Every defendant in the case pleaded guilty, with sentences ranging from probation to more than 18 years in prison. In addition to Walls’ 223-month sentence, other sentences of key members of the conspiracy include Kelley receiving 211 months, Livingston 151 months, Robinson 120 months, Dewon Williams 130 months, Ricky Hinton 110 months, and Robert Johnson 90 months.

There is no parole in the federal system.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case with the North Little Rock Police Department and Sherwood Police Department.