Man Sentenced to Nearly 16 Years in Prison for Attempting to Traffic Methamphetamine

ROCKFORD — A Sterling, Ill., man has been sentenced to more than fifteen years in federal prison for attempting to traffic methamphetamine from California to Illinois. 

TONY CLAPP, 62, pleaded guilty in 2025 to one count of attempting to possess with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston sentenced Clapp to 15 years and eight months in federal prison.

In his plea agreement, Clapp admitted that in February 2022 he arranged for the purchase and delivery of approximately three kilograms of pure methamphetamine from a source in California.  This crime was committed while Clapp was serving a term of court-supervised release following a 2008 federal prison sentence for distribution of cocaine—a fact that the Court found to be an aggravating factor in sentencing Clapp.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Shane R. Catone, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.  The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Ladd.