ASHEVILLE, N.C. - U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced today Tony Lee Stanfield, 53 of Villa Rica, Georgia, to 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
C.J. Hyman, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Sheriff Chris Francis of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office join U.S. Attorney Rose in making today’s announcement.
According to filed court documents and court proceedings, law enforcement became aware that on Jan. 20, 2017, Stanfield would be delivering methamphetamine from Georgia to Rutherford County to an individual who was cooperating with law enforcement. When Stanfield arrived at the agreed upon location he was arrested by law enforcement. Court records show that law enforcement found in Stanfield’s vehicle more than 440 grams of methamphetamine, scales, smoking paraphernalia, and knives. According to court records, Stanfield told law enforcement that his supplier of methamphetamine was his co-defendant, Roger Darryl Brooks. Stanfield also told law enforcement that that Brooks would pay him $500 for transporting the methamphetamine to someone in Rutherford County.
Stanfield pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Brooks is currently detained and. charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
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In a separate case, Judge Reidinger also sentenced today Kevin Christopher Makerson, 44, of Rutherfordton, N.C., to 46 months and three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. According to court documents, law enforcement arrested Makerson after other drug distributors identified him as their source of supply of crack cocaine. According to court records, at the time of his arrest, Makerson was on supervised release for a previous cocaine trafficking offense. He is serving 30 months for violating the terms of that supervised release, after which he will begin serving the 46 months imposed in this case.
ATF and the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office led both investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pritchard, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville, prosecuted both cases.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
