California man pleads guilty for selling Meth in NE Oklahoma

A man who was arrested after a NE Oklahoma police officer discovered methamphetamine, fentanyl, and firearms in his vehicle pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court.

34-year-old Eric Steven Bentley of Bakersfield, California, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and to possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Bentley faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.

In his plea agreement, Bentley stated that on Oct. 31, 2020, he and two co-defendants, Derrick Deeds and Nicole Dileva, possessed more than 500 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute the drug.

He said the trio traveled from Bakersfield, California, to the Northern District of Oklahoma to sell the meth and had already distributed quantities of the drug in exchange for cash and firearms.

Bentley, Deeds, and Dileva received several guns as payment for methamphetamine and used the firearms for protection while selling the drug.

The three were charged after an October 2020 traffic stop conducted by the Mannford, Oklahoma. Police Department. During a probable cause search of the vehicle, officers discovered three pounds of methamphetamine, pills later determined to be fentanyl, and the three firearms.

Deeds, 36, and Dileva, 34, both of Bakersfield, also pleaded guilty in July. The three defendants will be sentenced in November.