By Jeaneane Payne
Two Atlanta men were sentenced in U.S. District Court on September 1, 2011 for playing major roles in a drug trafficking organization which distributed cocaine and crack cocaine in the Morristown, TN area.
Andrew Montgomery, 28, and Jason Ware, 29, were convicted on a crack cocaine conspiracy charge. Montgomery, sentenced to 275 months in prison was also convicted of money laundering and a federal methamphetamine conspiracy charge stemming from the Jacksonville, Florida area. Ware was sentenced to 262 months in prison.
The cocaine came from Mexican sources of supply. It was distributed to many other individuals in the organization and then cooked into crack cocaine and sold in Atlanta or brought to Morristown to be cooked and distributed there.
Thirty two people were indicted in the conspiracy which also involved firearms and money laundering.
Various federal agencies participated in the investigation along with local authorities in Morristown, Atlanta and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
"I am extremely proud of the cooperative efforts of the investigators from the numerous law enforcement agencies led by the FBI for their hard work that has resulted in these convictions on members of one of the largest drug conspiracies in east Tennessee," stated U.S. Attorney William C. Killian.
Source: Knoxville FBI