A Chattanooga man, who was caught up in a major drug roundup of what a prosecutor called "the worst of the worse," was sentenced on Monday to serve 57 months in federal prison.
Adrain Washington has already been in jail almost 21 months.
Judge Sandy Mattice, in setting the sentence, said the label worst of the worse "means nothing to me. It has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm going to do today."
Washington's attorney, Chris Varner, said Washington was completing work at Chattanooga State and "was about to turn things around" when he got back into drugs.
Prosecutors, who set up wire taps, said they recorded Washington making 30 calls discussing drug sales.
Attorney Varner said he had "no weapons and no gang affiliation."
Prosecutor Chris Poole said Washington's prior record includes four aggravated assaults. He also said, "He was moving a good amount of drugs."
He said Washington has 35 criminal convictions as an adult.
In a second drug case, Larry L. Stone was sentenced to 160 months after being found with "pure" meth.
Prosecutor Michael Porter said it was the first 100 percent pure meth he had seen.
He said Stone has "over a page" of parole revocations.
Judge Mattice said Mexican cartels have taken over the meth market, shipping large amounts of Ice over the border. He said many "mom and pop" operations had closed down in the face of tighter law enforcement and the ease of getting Ice.
Gianna Maio of the Federal Defender's Office said Stone began turning to alcohol and hard drugs after his father was murdered when he was 10.