Fourteen Methamphetamine Traffickers Sentenced To Prison

STATESVILLE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Richard L. Voorhees handed down prison terms ranging from 188 months to 24 months to 14 methamphetamine traffickers, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

U.S. Attorney Rose is joined in making today’s announcement by Nick Annan, Special Agent in Charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Atlanta and the Carolinas; Robert Schurmeier, Director of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation; Colonel Glenn McNiel of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol;Chief Thurman Whisnant of the Hickory Police Department; Sheriff Coy Reid of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office; Sheriff Chris Bowman of the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office; Chief Damon D. Williams of the Mooresville Police Department; and Sheriff Darren Campbell of the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office

The 14 defendants sentenced over the past three days in U.S. District Court in Statesville are:

1. Irving E. Rodriguez-Munguia, 24, of Mexico, was sentenced to 188 months, followed by five years of supervised release. (5:15-cr-77)

2. Reginald Jerry Shaw, 42, of Charlotte, was sentenced to 151 months, followed by five years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-46)

3. Alexis Noe Bautista, 36, of Mexico, was sentenced to 121 months, followed by five years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-13)

4. Steven Glenn Burke, 32, of West Jefferson, was sentenced to 120 months, followed by five years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-40)

5. Zachary Robert Testerman, 27, of Millers Creek, was sentenced to 77 months, followed by five years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-46)

6. Gary Joseph Phipps, 31, of West Jefferson, was sentenced to 65 months, followed by three years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-47)

7. Christopher Gray Young, 34, of McMinnville, Tennessee, was sentenced to 65 months, followed by five years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-53)

8. Hanna Lee Raymer, 38, of Mooresville, was sentenced to 60 months, followed by four years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-48)

9. Kenneth Otto Jones, 51, of Hickory, was sentenced to 60 months, followed by four years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-60)

10. Heather Lynne Bostian, 32, of Statesville, was sentenced to 57 months, followed by three years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-61)

11. Mark Monroe Goings, 45, of Mount Airy, was sentenced to 50 months, followed by two years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-59)

12. Rhiannon Nicole Forrest, 33, of Statesville, was sentenced to 46 months, followed by three years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-56)

13. Tammy Lynn Paris, 50, of Jasper, Georgia, was sentenced to 46 months, followed by three years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-44)

14. Kristy Hope Eastridge, 33, of Crumpler, was sentenced to 24 months, followed by six years of supervised release. (5:16-cr-47)

All of the defendants were charged as part of an ongoing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, which, since 2015, has resulted in the prosecution of more than 150 individuals. Court records show that the drug trafficking organizations involved have trafficked methamphetamine worth millions of dollars. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized far in exces s of 20 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, $500,000 in U.S. currency and other assets, and dozens of firearms.

OCDETF is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Rose thanked all the law enforcement agencies for their investigative efforts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the cases.