Michael Bowman Will Spend 240 Months in Federal Prison
ABINGDON, VIRGINIA - An Abingdon man was sentenced yesterday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon on federal drug conspiracy charges, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced today.
Michael Bowman, 59, of Abingdon, Va., previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Yesterday in District Court, Bowman was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release thereafter. The defendant was also ordered to forfeit real property, multiple firearms, and ammunition.
“Ice methamphetamine is particularly addictive and deadly form of methamphetamine which is destroying communities and ruining lives," United States Attorney John P. Fishwick said today. “Today’s sentence sends the message that we will not tolerate these substances coming into our communities and will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to put those who deal this deadly drug in federal prison."
According to evidence presented to the District Court, Bowman was the head of a large, “ice" methamphetamine conspiracy that operated in Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. In approximately 2013-2014, Bowman, and others, regularly received large supplies of ice methamphetamine from sources of supply in the Southwest United States.
Bowman and his co-conspirators would typically transport this ice methamphetamine from the Southwest United States to Virginia and Kentucky via interstate highways, coordinating among themselves to avoid law enforcement drug interdiction efforts along the way. Once in Virginia, Bowman would sell the drug to others, who would further distribute it for sale to end users.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Bristol Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Bristol Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Virginia State Police, the Sheriff's Offices of Washington County, Russell County, Tazewell County, and Smyth County, the Commonwealth's Attorney's Offices of Russell County and Tazewell County and the police departments of Abingdon and Lebanon. Special Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Jayne prosecuted the case for the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
