Little Rock man gets 25 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl that resulted in death

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A Little Rock man will spend the next 25 years in prison after sentencing Thursday in federal court.

A release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas Jonothan Ross said that 33-year-old Joseph Riggins Jr. received a 25-year sentence after earlier pleading guilty to distributing fentanyl that resulted in a death. Judge James Moody Jr. also sentenced Riggins to three years of supervised release after he served his term.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Riggins was indicted in April 2023 for knowing and distributing what Ross called a mixture containing fentanyl that resulted in a death. The indictment came after a July 2022 investigation that found Riggins traded heroin for sex at a North Little Rock motel.

Investigators said the person who received the mixture from Riggins later used it and died, and their body was found by staff inside the motel room. An analysis at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory revealed the person had a mixture of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine in their body.

The fentanyl in the victim’s body was at a significantly higher level than where lethal levels typically begin, investigators said.

A spokesperson for Ross said the North Little Rock Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation and Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gordon prosecuted the case.

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