The now-former sheriff of Hot Spring County pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge of concealing information from the FBI in a drug investigation.

Derek “Scott” Finkbeiner, 47, of Malvern admitted in U.S. District Court in El Dorado that he misled the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his relationship with a target of a federal investigation, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas.

In a change of plea hearing before Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey, Finkbeiner admitted that he was present at the target’s residence when an FBI informant conducted a controlled purchase of narcotics and that he “smoked” crack cocaine and methamphetamine with the target, Fowlkes said.

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Finkbeiner also admitted that once he learned of the FBI’s investigation, he lied about the nature of his and the Hot Spring County Sheriff Department’s relationship with the target, all in an effort to convince the FBI to cease its investigation, the prosecutor said.

All other federal charges against Finkbeiner were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

The sheriff, who resigned his office Friday, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Sentencing is expected to take place in four months, Fowlkes’ press release said.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported February 8 that Finkbeiner was jailed the day before in Saline County for the FBI office in Little Rock. It marked the third time he’d been arrested since he was elected in 2022, the newspaper reported.

He was first arrested in October 2023 and charged with witness tampering, obstruction of justice, failure to report a felony, making false statements and being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm, the Democrat-Gazette reported. He bonded out of jail shortly after his arrest and pleaded innocent, but was prohibited from carrying out law enforcement duties, according to the newspaper.

The Arkansas State Police arrested Finkbeiner in April 2024 on state charges of misdemeanor sexual solicitation and felony unauthorized use of the state’s database of criminal information and other crime details used by law enforcement officers.

Finkbeiner filed motions to dismiss the charges, but Hickey last October denied those motions.

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