Travis Hill, Methamphetamine and Firearms Trafficking, Georgia 2014

A Columbus, Georgia man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine trafficking operation that also involved a firearm.

Travis Hill, age 35, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Clay D. Land on November 24, 2014, in Columbus, Georgia.

Hill was found guilty of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The sentence was a result of a guilty plea entered by Hill on July 25, 2014.

According to the facts stipulated in the plea agreement, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hill’s residence on October 15, 2013. The search produced a loaded Taurus .40 caliber pistol with a laser attachment, a digital scale, baggies with suspected drug residue, a baggie with over 40 grams of suspected methamphetamine, and a pistol magazine. Hill claimed ownership of the firearm and all of the drugs found in the house.

A check by law enforcement revealed that the gun had been reported stolen on May 13, 2013, following a break-in of a storage unit owned by a third party. Hill was previously convicted of felony crimes in 1997 and 2011, making him prohibited from possessing a firearm.

“Guns and drugs don’t mix. I hope the message from this sentence will be that gun crimes really do equal hard time,” said United States Attorney Michael Moore. “Thanks to the good work by the Sheriff’s Office, the DEA, and the ATF, we were able to take an individual, who was both a drug dealer and a felon in possession of a firearm, off the streets for the next 15 years.”

The case was investigated by the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Crawford Seals.

For more information, please contact Pamela Lightsey, Public Affairs Specialist, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603.

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