James Blevins
A 34-year-old Ringgold man was convicted of trafficking fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl after entering a guilty plea in the Catoosa County Superior Court.
James Blevins was sentenced to 30 years, with the first 10 years to be served in prison, without the possibility of parole.
As part of an investigation spearheaded by the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office and led by Detective Chris Lyons, Blevins sold fentanyl to individuals on several different occasions. After a search warrant was executed at Blevins’s home, approximately 60 grams of fentanyl, a pill press and over $10,000 in cash was located.
After his arrest, Blevins admitted that he would buy approximately one ounce of fentanyl per week in Chattanooga and then bring it back to Catoosa County where he would “cut it” and turn it into two ounces of pressed fentanyl, which he would then sell locally for $100 per gram.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney David Wolfe and the guilty plea hearing was presided over by Chief Judge Brian House.
District Attorney Clayton M. Fuller, since taking office in March of 2023, said he has made fighting fentanyl his top prosecutorial priority. “I want to thank the relentless dedication to fight the scourge of fentanyl of Sheriff Gary Sisk and Detective Chris Lyons of the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office, their exceptional work not only brought a criminal to account — it saved lives.
"Let this sentence be a warning to every fentanyl dealer: we are coming for you with the full force of the law. You will find no safe harbor, and the cartels won’t be able to hide you. The fight against dealers of death, the Mexican cartels who trafficked this poison across our borders, and the Chinese Communist Party who provides the fentanyl components to the cartels will not falter. We will not fail to rid our Main Streets of this poison."