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Press Release
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced to prison the leader of a methamphetamine trafficking ring and his two co-conspirators today, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
William Andrew Reel, II, 40, of Bessemer City, N.C., was ordered to serve 30 years in prison and five years of supervised release. Reel pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Kateland Dawn Myers, 25, of Bessemer City, N.C., was sentenced to 151 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Myers pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and distribution and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Matthew Lloyd Thomas, 32, of Dallas, N.C. was ordered to serve 151 months in prison, and five years of supervised release. Thomas previously pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy, distribution and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm by a felon.
According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearings, from at least September 2018 to March 2019, Reel conspired with others to traffic large quantities of methamphetamine from Georgia into North Carolina, which Reel, Myers, and Thomas then distributed locally in Gaston County and elsewhere. Court records show that Reel, assisted by Myers and Thomas, was responsible for trafficking at least 30 kilograms of methamphetamine. Over the course of the investigation law enforcement seized methamphetamine, three firearms, and more than $ 64,171 in drug proceeds.
In making the announcement, U.S. Attorney Murray thanked the DEA and the Gaston County Police Department for handling the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hess, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case.