LITTLE ROCK—Kevin Langel, who trafficked dozens of kilograms of cocaine from Texas to Arkansas, will spend the next 14 years in federal prison. Bruce Smith, who trafficked multiple pounds of methamphetamine from California to Arkansas, will be in federal prison for the next 10 years. And Larry Rogers, who brokered multiple kilogram-quantity transactions of cocaine between drug distributors in Little Rock, will serve five years in federal prison. All three men were sentenced by United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky for their roles in a major drug-trafficking organization that ended with guilty verdicts following a six-day trial in February.
Today, Judge Rudofsky sentenced Langel, 54, of Pine Bluff, and Rogers, 71, of Benton. On Monday, Judge Rudofsky sentenced Smith, 55, of Hesperia, California. Langel and Smith each received five years of supervised release in addition to their 168 and 120 months, respectively, of imprisonment. Rogers’ 60 months’ imprisonment will be followed by four years of supervised release. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the verdicts.
The three men were part of a drug conspiracy that spanned from California to Texas to Arkansas and involved significant amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl. The three were the last of the 18 defendants indicted to be convicted after a trial that ended on February 10, 2026.
Langel, Smith, and Rogers were initially indicted in November 2022. A federal grand jury returned a Superseding Indictment on January 6, 2026, charging Smith with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. Langel and Rogers were charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, with Langel’s charge involving more than five kilograms of cocaine and Rogers’ charge involving more than 500 grams, but less than five kilograms of cocaine.
The indictments were the culmination of a multi-agency investigation into drug-trafficking in central Arkansas led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and North Little Rock Police Department.
The evidence at trial proved that the controlled substances the three men were selling were ultimately being purchased, and redistributed, by Roderick Toney, 58, of Little Rock. Judge Rudofsky sentenced Toney to 150 months imprisonment on February 25, 2026, following Toney’s guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The investigation revealed that Smith knew individuals in Pine Bluff and came to Arkansas several times during the conspiracy period of 2020 through 2022 to sell and deliver pounds of methamphetamine to Toney.
In June and July 2022, at the same time Smith was selling methamphetamine to Toney, Toney was purchasing kilograms of cocaine from Rogers. Evidence at trial detailed Toney and Rogers’ movements on July 14, 2022, when Rogers obtained money from a relative of Toney’s at a car wash and then traveled to a business off Geyer Springs Road in Little Rock where he met with Langel and obtained a kilogram of cocaine that Rogers later delivered to Toney. Rogers and Toney were involved in multiple cocaine transactions.
In addition to the evidence that Langel was the source of supply of cocaine that Rogers obtained for Toney in June and July 2022, the United States proved that Langel was engaged in numerous multiple-kilogram transactions of cocaine sourced out of Houston and Dallas in late 2022 and early 2023. Just one such transaction was for $72,800, according to evidence presented at trial, money with which Langel purchased four kilograms of cocaine.
During today’s sentencing, Judge Rudofsky said he considered Langel’s criminal history, which included at attempted murder conviction as well as a conviction for Battery, Second Degree, in crafting the 14-year sentence.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Little Rock comprises agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, New Orleans Field Division, North Little Rock Police Department, and the Sherwood Police Department, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
This case was investigated by the DEA and North Little Rock Police Department, with assistance from the Sherwood Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Chris Givens and Amanda Fields.
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