Sentences* James Green: 18 months* David Dempsey: Six years, six months* Ralph Layne: 10 years, 10 months* Hunter Andregg: Three years, eight months* Ella King: Three years, one month* Clarence Green: Four years, nine months* Wendy Patterson: 20 years* Berry Nolan: Three years, one monthSource: U.S. District Court
The first group from a 45-person meth roundup nearly two years ago in Hamilton, Grundy, Marion and Sequatchie counties pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court here.
Their sentences ranged from 20 years to 18 months.
Eight defendants told U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier they wanted to take responsibility for their actions.
“I’d like to apologize for using taxpayer money (while being incarcerated for seven months) and for my part in this corruption,” said James Green, one of the eight.
David Dempsey, too, made apologies. Turning toward the audience in the courtroom, he said tearfully, “I want to apologize to my family first. Karen, I’m sorry for what I put you through.”
After telling the prosecutor and investigator that he holds nothing against them, Green added: “Anybody who’s not been on (drugs) can’t understand how it overcomes you and takes over your life.”
Other defendants sentenced Thursday were Ralph Layne, Hunter Andregg, Ella King, Clarence Green, Wendy Patterson and Berry Nolan.
U.S. Assistant Attorney Scott Winne and lead investigator Chad Johnson, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy and member of the Tennessee Meth Task Force, said the defendants’ part in the meth manufacturing conspiracy was largely one of buying pseudoephedrine – an ingredient in cold and decongestant medicines – in large amounts.
They often went from store to store buying over-the-counter decongestants, then turned the tablets over to a central manufacturer, either for money or the finished meth drug, Winne said.
Investigators have called the buyers “smurfers.”
Winne said the cases in court Thursday are a testament to how meth distribution – and law enforcement’s investigation of it – has changed over the past decade.
“The meth conspiracies here used to reach back to Mexico. Then there were the red phosphorus labs,” he said. “When Tennessee passed the law limiting the sale of pseudoephedrine, that’s when the ‘one-pot’ labs began.”
Johnson, whose task force officers included members of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said buyers of decongestants and other items containing psedoephedrine must sign for the drugs, even if they purchase them over the counter. When investigators receive information about meth makers or users, they use the state’s buyer database to look for patterns.
“We don’t just look, though, at how frequently they buy. We also use information from cooperating witnesses,” Johnson said.
In sentencing the eight defendants Thursday, Collier noted that he thought all had apologized and taken responsibility for their actions.
All eight received sentences at the low end of the sentencing guideline ranges judges may use, Winne said. Defendant Wendy Patterson, who received the longest sentence of 20 years, could have received life, Winne said.