Abingdon, VIRGINIA - Two Georgia women involved in a crystal ice methamphetamine conspiracy led by a co-defendant incarcerated in Virginia were each recently sentenced to federal prison. Veronica Martinez, 30, of Doraville, Georgia, and Alison Atkinson, 30, of Grovetown, Georgia, were each sentenced to serve 60 months in federal prison, United States Attorney Thomas T. Cullen and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced.
Martinez and Atkinson each previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Two other co-defendants, Adrian Romero, 31, of Augusta, Georgia, and Clayton Lee Tate, 39, of Austinville, Va., were sentenced in late 2019 for their roles in the offense.
According to court documents, and from evidence presented at the sentencing hearings, from January 2017 to May 16, 2018, lead defendant Adrian Romero led a conspiracy with at least five or more individuals to distribute methamphetamine throughout the Western District of Virginia, and elsewhere. Specifically, Romero organized and led a network of individuals to distribute large amounts of “crystal ice" methamphetamine, a potent form of the drug, from sources in Georgia into southwest Virginia. Romero led this organization while he was incarcerated in a Virginia prison on other methamphetamine related charges. The crystal ice Romero’s organization obtained and distributed was an extremely pure form of the drug, sometimes having a purity of 90 percent. Atkinson and Martinez obtained the drug from sources according to his direction and then further distributed the drug in Georgia and southwest Virginia. Atkinson and Martinez each accepted responsibility for trafficking up to 1.5 kilograms of crystal ice during this conspiracy.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the Twin County Drug Task Force (Virginia) and Richmond City Police Department and Columbia County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia. Special Assistant United States Attorney M. Suzanne Kerney-Quillen, a Virginia Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Attorney General’s Major Crimes and Emerging Threats Section, is prosecuting the case for the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
