A Chattanooga woman who set up a pill pressing operation in a local warehouse and began making meth pills that were sold as ecstasy pills has been sentenced to serve 33 months in federal prison.
Shaquala Brown appeared before Judge Curtis Collier.
Prosecutors said in early 2017 Ms. Brown began working with a drug dealer in Chattanooga to distribute pills containing cocaine and caffeine and sell them as ecstasy pills.
In February 2017, Ms. Brown purchased a machine capable of pressing 5,000 pills per hour. She also acquired press molds, caffeine pills, blue dye, a pill-binding agent, and drugs she believed to be cocaine but were actually meth, authorities said.
She rented a warehouse and began turning out the pills. The warehouse later caught fire.
After she was arrested, Ms. Brown said she learned to produce pills by watching Internet videos.
She said she also wanted to start producing "Roxys" so she ordered a die for that purpose. However, it was seized before she could go into production.
In another case, Kenneth Holt was sentenced to 15 months for being a felon in possession of a gun.
On Feb. 13, 2019, a Chattanooga Police Department investigator conducted a traffic stop. Holt was a passenger in the vehicle.
The investigator asked if he had just smoked marijuana due to the smell emanating from the vehicle. Holt admitted he had and said he still had a little marijuana on his person. He also admitted that he had a gun in his waistband. CPD then retrieved the firearm from him.
His prior felonies include attempted possession of cocaine for resale and aggravated burglary.