Meth Plus A Gun Equals 15 Years In Federal Prison

Michael J. Moore, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced the sentencing of Travis Hill, age 35, of Columbus, Georgia, on November 24, 2014, by the Honorable Clay D. Land, Chief United States District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia, in Columbus, Georgia.

Mr. Hill was sentenced by Chief Judge Land, to serve 124 months for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute plus a consecutive 60 months for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.  The total sentence of imprisonment was 184 months. 

On July 25, 2014, Mr. Hill entered a guilty plea to the charges.  According to facts stipulated in the plea agreement, on October 15, 2013, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Mr. Hill’s residence.  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.  Mr. Hill claimed the firearm and all of the drugs 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.  Mr. Hill was previously convicted of felony crimes in 1997 and 2011, therefore, 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.  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,” said United States Attorney Michael Moore.

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.

            Inquiries regarding this case should be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Affairs Specialist, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603