GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – May 9, 2022, Harley Ray Humphrey, 41, of Russellville, Tennessee, was sentenced to 248 months in prison by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville.
As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Humphrey agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(b)(1)(A) and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). Following his release from prison, Humphrey will be on 10 years of supervised release.
According to the written plea agreement filed with the court, Hamblen County narcotics detectives identified Humphrey as a supplier of methamphetamine to multiple individuals in Hamblen County, Tennessee. On January 25, 2020, Greene County officers responded to a call regarding trespassers at an abandoned property on Poncho Road, along with a report that shots had been fired. Officers found multiple individuals on the property, including Humphrey and another male who were located inside an old camper. Officers searched the camper and found 248 grams of methamphetamine, 12 Xanax pills, .6 grams of marijuana, and an M&P .22 caliber assault rifle. Four spent casings were found on the ground outside the camper. Humphrey had $2,500 cash on his person. Investigators obtained other information that Humphrey was regularly purchasing methamphetamine from the Atlanta, Georgia area and distributing it in Tennessee.
U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee made the announcement.
The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by the Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Swecker represented the United States.
This case was part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. The HIDTA program enhances and coordinates drug control efforts among local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The program provides agencies with coordination, equipment, technology, and additional resources to combat drug trafficking and its harmful consequences in critical regions of the United States. The program began in 1988 when Congress authorized the Director of The Office of National Drug Control Policy designate areas within the United States that exhibit serious drug trafficking problems and harmfully impact other areas of the country as HIDTAs.
This case is also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders working together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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