Last Updated on August 10, 2016 7:10 pm
STATESVILLE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Richard L. Voorhees handed down prison terms ranging from as much 235 to 51 months to 15 methamphetamine traffickers, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
The 15 defendants sentenced today and yesterday in U.S. District Court in Statesville are:
Gregory Ryan Ellis, 39, of Jefferson, N.C. was sentenced to 235 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-68)
Todd Phillip Radar, 39, of Tonawanda, New York, was sentenced to 235 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-45)
Teofilo Salinas Cervin, 44, of Mexico, was sentenced to 210 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-20)
William Mitchell Lee Pope, 36, of Connelly Springs, N.C., was sentenced to 146 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-44)
Donald Ray Newton, 34, of Byron, Georgia, was sentenced to 131 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-57)
Eric Germaine Summers, 29, of Statesville, was sentenced to 121 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-73)
Adam Houston Stokes, 29, of Sherman Oaks, California, was sentenced to 120 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-78)
Codey Wayne Michaels, 25, of Valdese, N.C., was sentenced to 120 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-76)
Anthony Gwyn Lackey, 39, of North Wilkesboro, N.C., was sentenced to 92 months, followed by 5 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-68)
Ryan Lewis Craig, 33, of Conover, N.C., was sentenced to 83 months, followed by 4 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-46)
Blake Adam Masters, 27, of Clarkesville, Georgia, was sentenced to 78 months, followed by 4 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-50)
Lindsey Jordan Price, 22, of Taylorsville, N.C., was sentenced to 63 months, followed by 3 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-44)
Jennifer Irene Brown, 35, of Mooresville, N.C., was sentenced to 63 months, followed by 3 years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-50)
Xavier Watson, 25, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was sentenced to 51 months, followed by 3 years of supervised release. (5:13-cr-25)
These prosecutions stem from an ongoing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation led by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with the assistance of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Alexander County Sheriff’s Office, Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office, Ashe County Sheriff’s Office, Boone Police Department, Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, Hickory Police Department, Iredell County Sheriff’s Office, Lenoir Police Department, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Mooresville Police Department, Pineville Police Department, Statesville Police Department, Burke County Task Force, and a host of law enforcement agencies throughout North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee.
To date, more than 90 individuals have been convicted as a result of the long term investigation. Court records show that the drug trafficking organizations involved have trafficked methamphetamine worth millions of dollars. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized multiple kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, $100,000 in U.S. currency, and dozens of firearms.
OCDETF is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.
In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Rose thanked all the law enforcement agencies involved for their investigative efforts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte is in charge of the prosecution
