Logan sentenced Rope to 108 months on a meth count. Two overdose deaths were not a homicide judgment.

A sentence after a guilty plea is the judgment on the count that was admitted. On Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan sentenced Eric Rope Jr., 41, of Phoenix, to 108 months in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona announced the sentence the next day. Rope had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. One hundred eight months is nine years. The judgment is a drug-distribution sentence.

The Justice Department said the case comes from drug incidents on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in early 2025. On Feb. 21, 2025, tribal police responded to an aggravated assault in which the victim was seriously injured. Officers recovered methamphetamine from Rope's residence and a weapon used in the assault from the bed of his truck. The release describes what was found during that investigation. It does not describe a separate assault conviction.

On Feb. 28, 2025, Rope contacted law enforcement about several unresponsive people at a residence. Officers found four men in medical distress from drug overdoses. Two of them died. Investigators determined that Rope had supplied drugs, including methamphetamine, earlier that evening. One of the men who survived reported that Rope gave him a white powder he thought was cocaine, and that he became severely ill, disoriented, and then unconscious. The Justice Department said the overdose deaths could not be conclusively attributed to Rope's distribution. KTAR reported the same limit. The deaths were conduct the court considered at sentencing. They are not a murder or manslaughter judgment in this case.

On March 19, 2025, tribal police tried to stop Rope as he drove from Phoenix toward the reservation. He fled briefly, then stopped in a remote area. His passenger ran into the desert carrying Rope's backpack. Officers recovered more than 369 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a pistol with an obliterated serial number. A second firearm was in the vehicle. Rope was taken into tribal custody and later transferred to federal custody. The guilty plea and the 108-month term are the judgment on the distribution count.