Baxter County man, former Stone County Chief Deputy sentenced to federal prison

LITTLE ROCK – A Baxter County man, and former Chief Deputy with the Stone County Sheriff’s Office, Zachary Hunter Alexander, will spend the next 33 months in federal prison for selling a stolen firearm and extortion. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentence, which was handed down Tuesday by United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky.
In May of 2022, a federal grand jury indicted the 40-year-old Alexander of Lakeview, in an 11-count indictment. Count 1 and counts 8 through 11 of the indictment charged Alexander with bank fraud, count 2 charged Alexander with selling a stolen firearm, and counts 3 through 7 charged Alexander with extortion under color of official right. In August of 2023, Alexander pled guilty to selling a stolen firearm and extortion under color of official right.

An investigation revealed in May of 2019, Alexander purchased two Remington 700, 6.5 Creedmore sniper rifles. One month later, Alexander received a cashier’s check from the Stone County Sheriff’s Foundation for $1,465 for the purchase of two Remington 700, 6.5 Creedmore sniper rifles for the Stone County Sheriff’s Office. In December 2019, Alexander sold one of the sniper rifles that belonged to the Stone County Sheriff’s Office for his personal benefit.

In February of 2020, Alexander misused his authority as the Chief Deputy for the Sheriff’s Office to obtain $3,809 from the Stone County Treasurer. Alexander stated it was to reimburse a pawn shop for rifles, ammunition, and equipment purchased for the Sheriff’s Office. However, Alexander took the check to the owner of pawn shop, who accompanied Alexander to the bank, then endorsed the check and let Alexander keep the cash. As in other similar instances alleged in the indictment, no items were actually purchased from the pawn shop.

In addition to the 33-month sentence, Judge Rudofsky also sentenced Alexander to two years supervised release. Judge Rudofsky also ordered Alexander to pay restitution in the amount of $153,786, which primarily reflects pawn shop checks improperly cashed and dispensed to Alexander, fraudulent credit card purchases for personal items by Alexander on a Sheriff’s Office credit card, and Alexander’s fraudulent check kiting at various banks. There is no parole in the federal system.

The case was investigated by the Arkansas State Police, with assistance from the Stone County Sheriff’s Office, Stone County Sheriff’s Foundation, Stone County Treasurer’s Office, 16th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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