Former Hot Spring County sheriff sentenced to two years in prison for lying to federal agents

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Federal officials said on Wednesday that the former sheriff of Hot Spring County admitted lying to FBI officials and has been sentenced to 24 months in prison.

Derrick Scott Finkbeiner was elected sheriff of Hot Spring County and began his term in January 2023. By May of that year, federal officials became aware that he was using crack cocaine and methamphetamine, officials said.

Finkbeiner then learned that the FBI was investigating his drug supplier and worked to steer agents away from the man, claiming he was an informant, beginning in August 2023. During that month, Finkbeiner repeatedly lied to and misled FBI agents, as he admitted to prosecutors in February, to alter the course of the investigation.

Finkbeiner also admitted to smoking crack cocaine and methamphetamine with the person the FBI was investigating.

Finkbeiner pleaded guilty in February to falsifying, concealing and misleading information in an FBI drug activity investigation, count two of the six federal charges he was facing related to the FBI investigation. He was an elected official and remained in office until the day he made his guilty plea. He was not, however, allowed to perform law enforcement duties while the investigation and trial were underway.

Finkbeiner resigned the day he made his guilty plea.

He had been in the county detention center since May after he attempted to tamper with a witness, according to officials.

In July, Finkbeiner pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in Hot Spring County for unauthorized use of a database and sexual solicitation. Both charges were listed as misdemeanors, and he was assigned 180 days in jail for the database use and 90 days for solicitation, to be served concurrently.