Ray Foster pleaded guilty on Monday to meth possession in a case that involved an earlier mistrial.
Prosecutors agreed not to ask for an enhanced sentence based on a prior felony drug conviction as part of the plea bargain.
He is still facing 10 years to life in federal prison.
Sentencing will be by Judge Travis McDonough.
Foster, who wrote a number of letters to the judge during the case, also underwent a psychiatric examination.
Foster admits that he began dealing in meth around the middle of 2013 and continued until August of 2015.
Agents went through his garbage on Jan. 22, 2014, and found a number of plastic baggies with the corners cut and with meth residue inside.
After a traffic stop of Foster in McMinn County on Feb. 18, 2014, a K-9 alerted on the possibility of drugs. However, none were found. Foster did have $5,000 in cash on him.
His residence was searched on July 31, 2014, and agents found 19 grams of meth, digital scales, plastic baggies with cut ends, a police scanner and $2,020 cash.
The mistrial was last August.
The case had been reset for trial this week.
In another meth case, Amanda Davis was sentenced by Judge Sandy Mattice to 130 months in federal prison.
Prosecutors said her role was to receive meth from suppliers, store it and sell it.
The group was getting large amounts of meth from the Atlanta area, it was stated.
Ms. Davis was stopped in Chattanooga on April 6, 2017, and found with two kilograms of meth that she said came from Atlanta.