ABINGDON (WSLS 10) - A Radford man will spend 70 months in federal prison for his part in a major ice meth conspiracy.
The trafficking resulted in the distribution of large amounts of the drug into Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee from 2013 to 2014.
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J.B. Buckner, 56, was sentenced in District Court Tuesday to nearly six years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $25,000, according to United States Attorney John Fishwick, Jr.
In October 2015, Buckner pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute meth.
"The ice methamphetamine this conspiracy dealt in is dangerously addictive," Fishwick said. "These individuals ran a complex operation that brought drugs from Southwestern United States into Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. These actions had a devastating effect on our community and, for that, these individuals have been justly held accountable."
Buckner is the last of 10 defendants convicted in an investigation headed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to evidence presented during sentencing, people were receiving ice meth from sources of supply located in the Southwestern United States. The defendants would move the drugs along interstate highways, communicating between one another how to avoid law enforcement along the way.
The ice meth was paid for by hand-to-hand cash transactions or electronic money transactions.
The District Court ordered some of the defendants to forfeit 25 illegal firearms, including assault-style rifles, as well as $160,000 in proceeds from the crime and approximately 10 acres of property in Abingdon, which was used in commission of the crime.