Georgia man gets nearly 20 years for trafficking meth — from his federal prison cell
A Martinez man was sentenced last week to nearly 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to trafficking methamphetamine while in federal prison in Virginia, authorities said.
Adrian Romero, 31, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and process with the intent to distribute more than 50 grams of meth, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia said in a news release. He said he trafficked more than 1½ kilograms (about 3.3 pounds) of “crystal ice” meth.
From January 2017 to May 2018, Romero and at least five other people conspired to distribute the drug throughout Virginia using sources he had in Georgia and southwest Virginia, the release said. He organized the network and operation while incarcerated in Virginia on prior meth-related charges.
Two Augusta women, Veronica Martinez and Alison Atkinson, both 30, also pleaded guilty to the same charge in connection with the case. The Augusta Chronicle reported all three suspects were initially booked into the Columbia County jail.
Martinez, Atkinson and another co-defendant who pleaded guilty, Clayton Lee Take, 39, of Austinville, Va., will be sentenced by early 2020, the release said. Romero, the lead defendant in the investigation, was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in federal prison.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with assistance from the Twin County (Va.) Drug Task Force, Richmond City (Va.) Police Department and Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
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About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
