Methamphetamine Conspirators Sentenced

ABINGDON, VIRGINIA – Three members of a methamphetamine conspiracy that trafficked large quantities of the drug from Atlanta, Georgia to Southwest, Virginia, were sentenced this week in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced.

Brandin Travis Hyde, 38, of Castlewood, Va., previously pled guilty to one count of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possessing a firearm while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance.  This week in District Court, Hyde was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison. Also in District Court this week, in separate hearings, two other members of the conspiracy, Jeffrey Bruce Bartley, 27, of Bristol, Tenn, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and Melissa Harless, 54, of Abingdon, Va., was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison.

“We must continue to be vigilant in our fight against methamphetamine being brought into the Western District of Virginia from elsewhere,” United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said today. “We will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to dismantle large, wide-ranging distribution conspiracies like the one this defendant was involved with.”

According to evidence presented at previous hearings by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, Hyde was part of a methamphetamine conspiracy that transported and distributed multiple pounds of crystal methamphetamine between Atlanta, Georgia, Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

In April 2015, Hyde was interviewed in Bristol, Virginia and admitted that on multiple occasions he accompanied Jeremy Bartley to Atlanta, Georgia to pick up five ounces of crystal methamphetamine. Hyde also admitted to carrying a firearm trafficking in methamphetamine. Hyde returned to Southwest Virginia with the methamphetamine and further distributed it to others.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bristol, Virginia Police Department, the Bristol, Tennessee Police Department, the Abingdon Police Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee prosecuted the case for the United States.