LEXINGTON, Ky. - Cole Lee Rankin, 24, of Paris, pleaded guilty today to Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine Base.
In his guilty plea, Rankin admitted that he had, on several occasions, distributed cocaine base, in Harrison County and Bourbon County, Kentucky, between March 2015 and September 2016.
Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowery, Special Agent in Charge, ATF; Richard Sanders, Commissioner Kentucky State Police; Burl Purdue, Clark County Sheriff; and Shain Stephens Harrison County Sheriff, jointly announced the guilty plea.
The ATF, Kentucky State Police, Clark County Sheriff’s Department, and Harrison County Sheriff’s Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Lauren Tanner Bradley represented the United States in the case. The case is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, a Department of Justice initiative to reduce violent crime through partnerships between federal, state, and local law enforcement. The goal of the PSN Program is to use these partnerships to make communities safer.
Rankin will appear for sentencing before Chief United States District Judge Karen K. Caldwell in Lexington, on April 20, 2018, at 1:30 p.m.
Rankin faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum prison sentence of 40 years. The Court, however, will impose any sentence after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
