Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A Cabot man faces weapons and drug charges in a federal indictment unsealed today that also includes allegations of attempted bid-rigging on North Little Rock city contracts.

George Wylie Thompson faces wide-ranging weapons, drug, fraud and public corruption charges.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Little Rock said Thompson, 64, was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, and is being held in Los Angeles pending return to Arkansas.

Thompson is accused of being a felon in possession of 147 firearms, possessing illegal silencers, trafficking cocaine, running an illegal gambling operation and aiding and abetting marriage fraud.

He also is accused of attempting to rig bids for North Little Rock concrete and landscaping projects in an alleged scheme involving an unnamed city alderman and an unnamed vendor.

“The allegations of public corruption contained in this indictment are among the most serious, and fall within the FBI’s No. 1 criminal investigative priority,” Thomas J. Browne, FBI Special Agent in Charge in Arkansas, said in a news release.

U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said the investigation is ongoing and further charges are anticipated in the public corruption component of the case.