Johnson County Man Sentenced to 125 Months for Importing Pounds of Methamphetamine from Georgia

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – A Johnson County man, Sean Tharp, was sentenced to 125 months in federal prison on Thursday, by United States District Judge Robert E Wier, following his conviction for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

Tharp pled guilty to the charge in November 2020.            

According to his plea agreement, between April 2020 and September 2020, Tharp conspired with others to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.  Tharp admitted that he developed a relationship with a supplier of methamphetamine outside of Kentucky, from whom he obtained pound quantities of methamphetamine on multiple occasions.  Tharp admitted to traveling to Georgia to obtain the methamphetamine, which he brought back to the Johnson County area to sell.  In his plea agreement, Tharp admitted that the conspiracy involved at least 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine.   

Under federal law, Tharp must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Upon Tharp’s release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for five years.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jeffrey Todd Scott, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Louisville Field Division; and Doug Saylor, Johnson County Sheriff, jointly announced the guilty plea.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA and Johnson County Sheriff’s Department. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Trimble.