LITTLE ROCK – The 97-month federal prison sentence given to an Oklahoma man who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess pseudoephedrine after being arrested in a Fayetteville hotel in 2003 was upheld by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday.

Clifford Johnson and two other men, Teddy Lee French and Chris French, were arrested in November 2003 after allegedly paying undercover drug agents more than $105,000 for 21 cases of pseudoephedrine.

Johnson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess pseudoephedrine, which is used in the making of methamphetamine. Along with the jail time, he was fined $15,000.

Teddy French was convicted and sentenced to 210 months in prison and fined $20,000. His son, Chris, was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison and fined $15,000.

Johnson argued in his federal appeal that he should have received a minor participant reduction because the Frenches were more responsible for the crime.

The three-member panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis disagreed, saying the evidence was substantial enough to prove that Johnson “was deeply involved in the offense.”

The decision, written by Judge Diana E. Murphy of Minneapolis, Minn., said Teddy French of Lincoln illegally sold three to five pounds of methamphetamine ever couple of weeks in Kansas City, Mo., and that Johnson of Stillwell, Okla., was one of his sources of ephedrine, the active ingredient in pseudoephedrine.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used an undercover agent to negotiate a deal to sell Johnson 21 cases of pseudoephedrine, about 302,400 pills, for $105,000.

Johnson and the Frenches were arrested at the Clarion Inn in Fayetteville in November 2003.

The Frenches fled the country in December 2003 after drug agents served a search warrant on their business, French’s Heating and Air, near Lincoln. They were free on $100,000 bond at the time and awaiting trial on the drug charge.

DEA agents later arrested them in Honduras.