A Chattanooga federal judge on Monday said he found little hope for a man that Lincoln County Sheriff deputies say they once found having "inappropriate relations" with a pig.
Judge Sandy Mattice sentenced William Shane Reid to 14 years and two months in federal prison on a meth charge.
The judge noted that Reid had been sentenced in Federal Court before for drug involvement and wound up serving about five years counting two times he was sent back to prison for relapsing.
Judge Mattice said, "I don't think he will ever be able to control that (drug addiction).
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He said he had been prepared to sentence Reid to the maximum 17 years and four months until prosecutor Terra Bay recommended some leniency.
She said Reid suffers from "a severe addiction problem" and has an extensive criminal record, including a burglary case when he was 18.
Reid, 32, was one of four people rounded up in a Lincoln County meth ring. Several other people had some involvement in the conspiracy, it was stated.
In an incident just before Christmas in 2011, Lincoln County deputies said they happened upon a meth lab and "an abhorrent situation" when they checked out a loud noise on Lincoln Loop Road.
It was then they discovered Reid with the pig.
He was charged with aggravated animal cruelty along with a variety of drug charges.