Chattanooga man sentenced to 12 years, six months in local crack trafficking ring

One man caught in a federal drug investigation has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in federal prison, the highest penalty so far for a group of 34 nabbed in a massive local drug trafficking ring last year.

Garry Lee Brown, 25, of Chattanooga pleaded guilty to taking crack cocaine from Chattanooga to Johnson City, Tenn., sometimes by taxi cab or public transportation, according to a release by the U.S. Attorneys Office here.

Brown was sentenced Monday to the prison term by U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer in Greenville. He was one of 34 men named in a large-scale cocaine trafficking conspiracy that connects Atlanta, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Tenn. and Johnson City, Tenn.

Twenty of the 34 men charged have plead guilty, half of those who've pled half have been sentenced. The lowest sentence was 10 months for Guy Wilkerson, The highest sentence before Brown's was an 11-year term, given to another of defendants who pleaded guilty to carjacking connected to the drug trade.

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