Joshua Tucker, Methamphetamine Trafficking, Tennessee 2017

Memphis, TN – Joshua Tucker, 30, of Selmer, TN has been sentenced to a total of 300 months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons for conspiring to distribute and distributing actual methamphetamine, and being a felon in possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes.

“Armed Drug Trafficking Organizations will NOT continue to endanger our communities in West Tennessee with impunity,” said D. Michael Dunavant, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. “We use all available law enforcement and prosecutorial resources to pursue, disrupt and dismantle groups and conspiracies that are most responsible for the illegal sale of this poison to our citizens, and to remove dangerous offenders with firearms from our streets.”

Tucker was a member of a drug conspiracy operating throughout West Tennessee from October 2016 to April 2017. The investigation led to the federal prosecution of Tucker, along with eleven other co-conspirators, who sold large amounts of methamphetamine at various locations throughout West Tennessee, including Bath Springs, Lexington, Parsons, Selmer, Reagan, Lutts, and Milledgeville and Iuka, MS.

The investigation revealed that Tucker had sold over two kilograms of actual methamphetamine (ICE) to co-conspirators who resold the ICE between December 2016 and April 2017. Tucker, a convicted felon, possessed firearms in furtherance of his drug trafficking. On April 27, 2017, investigators with McNairy County Counter-Drug Unit and Selmer Police Department executed a probation search at Tucker's home.

During the search, officers located an AR-15 style rifle along with a 9 mm pistol in Tucker's bedroom. Officers also located approximately 20 grams of ICE packaged for resale, two digital scales, and $5,677.75 in cash. In the same room, officers located drug paraphernalia, including boxes of plastic baggies and pipes, as well as .223 and 9mm ammunition. Investigators also seized five vehicles.

U.S. Attorney Dunavant said, “This defendant and his co-conspirators have sowed addiction, pain, and destruction into our communities, and now they will reap a long prison sentence as a consequence.”

Tucker was originally charged with several offenses, including conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, aiding and abetting each other to possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, knowingly possessing with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, being a felon in possession of an AR-15 style rifle, being a felon in possession of a 9 mm pistol, possessing the AR-15 style rifle in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and possessing the 9 mm pistol in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.

Tucker was sentenced in Memphis, Tennessee on [no specific date given]. The investigation was conducted by the DEA, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, West Tennessee 24th Judicial District Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, and Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtn/pr/mcnairy-county-man-sentenced-300-months-drug-conspiracy-being-felon-possession-firearms