Lloyd Montgomery, Prescription Pill Trafficking, TN 2015

Clarksville, Tennessee, pill kingpin Lloyd Montgomery, 57, was hit with a 240-month federal prison sentence yesterday for orchestrating a sprawling prescription drug ring that flooded the city with thousands of illegally obtained Oxymorphone and Oxycodone pills between 2013 and 2015. U.S. Attorney David Rivera confirmed the sentencing, part of a broader crackdown on a network that turned painkillers into street currency.

Montgomery, the ringleader, pleaded guilty in August 2016 to conspiracy to distribute Oxymorphone and Oxycodone, 12 counts of distribution, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson handed down the two-decade sentence, followed by six years of supervised release, calling the operation a calculated, profit-driven enterprise that preyed on addiction.

Two of Montgomery’s key associates were sentenced alongside him. Brian Merriweather, 45, convicted after a jury trial, received 216 months in prison plus six years supervised release for conspiracy and two counts of distributing Oxymorphone. Dominique Lucas, 28, who pleaded guilty in July 2016 to the same conspiracy and two distribution counts, was sentenced to 180 months and six years of supervision.

The investigation revealed a sophisticated underground economy. Sellers in Montgomery’s network traded pills for stolen goods and arranged so-called ‘doctor shopping’ trips—sponsoring individuals to visit clinics and fraudulently secure prescriptions for resale. Montgomery himself was found to have illegally sold firearms, further fueling the cycle of crime.

A fourth defendant, Charles Arthur Reeves, III, 54, also of Clarksville and a previously convicted felon, was ensnared in the probe after selling a firearm to a confidential informant. Reeves pleaded guilty in October 2016 to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by a coalition of federal and local agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the 19th Judicial District Drug Task Force, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Clarksville Police Department, and the Tennessee Department of Correction-Probation and Parole. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ben Schrader and Brent Hannafan led the prosecution, sealing one of the longest-running drug conspiracy cases in recent Clarksville history.