Samuel J. Yarber, Crack Trafficking with Firearms, IL 2018

Samuel J. Yarber, 45, of the 2000 block of Moreland Blvd., Champaign, Ill., is headed to federal prison for 35 years after being convicted of distributing crack cocaine and wielding firearms to protect his drug operation. The sentence, handed down Feb. 23, 2018, includes a mandatory 25-year minimum for using guns in furtherance of drug trafficking—stacked on top of a 10-year term for moving more than a kilogram of crack.

Yarber has been in custody since his arrest on Dec. 14, 2016, when authorities intercepted him with crack cocaine, over an ounce of heroin, and other illegal narcotics. By then, he was already deep into a new drug spree—less than a year after completing a federal sentence for prior drug convictions. Investigators say he wasted no time rebuilding his trafficking network, flooding Champaign streets with crack.

Court documents reveal Yarber didn’t just deal drugs—he armed himself to lethal effect. He acquired three semi-automatic firearms, including a stolen pistol and a Tec-9 equipped with an extended magazine. Prosecutors proved he used the weapons to guard his stash and transactions. Even more brazen: Yarber accepted firearms as payment for crack, turning guns into currency on the street.

On Sept. 20, 2017, Yarber pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute and being a felon in possession of a firearm. But he fought the most serious charge—possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. After a two-day trial in October 2017, a jury rejected his defense and returned a guilty verdict in under two hours.

The case was built by the Champaign Street Crimes Task Force, a coalition of the Champaign Police Department, Urbana Police Department, University of Illinois Police Department, and the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office. Their investigation peeled back layers of street-level trafficking, exposing how Yarber operated with the precision of a cartel operative on a local scale.

Supervised Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller prosecuted the case. Yarber will serve his full 35-year sentence without parole and will face an additional eight years of supervised release upon his eventual return to society—if he ever truly leaves the shadow of his crimes.