Turtletown man gets 15-year term
Price
Turtletown, Tenn. – Letters in support of a man who was sentenced to prison last week after admitting to several drug trafficking and weapons offenses outline a heartbreaking tale that is far too common in today’s society.
Friends and family related to Christopher Dewayne Price, 43, of Turtletown, wrote letters to a federal judge asking for a lenient prison sentence. A letter submitted by Michael Stiles, a 47-year-old father and Sunday school teacher who lives in Cherokee County, describes Price as a hardworking father of two children who lost his way about nine years ago following a divorce.
“His life began to spiral downhill,” Stiles wrote. “He began to distance himself from me and run with the wrong crowd. He began drinking heavily and eventually turned to drug use. His life has been a series of ups and downs ever since.”
The letter says Price participated in drug rehabilitation programs but could never completely kick the habit.
“He has wet my yard or my truck seat with his tears many times as we talked about his struggles,” Stiles wrote. “I would see him do so good when he would come out of rehab and back to working.
“But he always struggled to keep his old acquaintances [away]. He just had too nice of a personality to tell them to never come back around. Of course, eventually, they would pull him back in.”
Stiles told the judge he felt Price deserved prison time for his admitted crimes but felt the length of incarceration should be relatively short because he “has never been one to steal to support his habit” and has never been a violent or dangerous person, “[not] even while under the influence.”
“My own uncle was run over and killed while mowing his grass by a lady that was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and she only received two years [in prison],”
Stiles argued in his letter. Price’s two children and several other relatives also submitted letters in support
of him. However, on Oct. 27, the judge ultimately sentenced Price to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised probation.
“For someone with his personality to be locked up with violent men for 15 years would destroy him,” Stiles wrote.
On July 24, Price pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. According to court documents, Price was found to be in possession of meth on three separate occasions between September 2018 and January 2019.
Documents say that on Sept. 11, 2018, authorities followed Price into White’s Plaza in Andrews after receiving a tip about drug trafficking, but briefly lost sight of him when they missed the turn into the parking lot.
When they finally caught up to his vehicle, officials saw Price walking away from the river. During a subsequent search, a detective found meth in Price’s pocket and a handgun in his vehicle.
Officials searched the woods near the river but didn’t immediately find anything. However, Price admitted he tossed meth toward the river after seeing the police car turn around. He told authorities he had been on his way to deliver the drugs to someone in Robbinsville.
Price soon posted bond and was released from jail. However, authorities arrested him in Murphy three days after the encounter in Andrews, when detectives found about 3 ounces of meth during a traffic stop.
During interrogation following the second arrest, Price told detectives exactly where he tossed the meth they didn’t find three days prior, and authorities later found a duffle bag containing about 13 ounces of meth by a bush hanging over the river.
Lab testing later confirmed the meth seized from Price was 98 percent pure. The drugs tossed by Price on Sept. 11 contained 363.4 grams of “actual meth,” while the drugs seized on Sept. 14 contained 83.2 grams of “actual meth.”
Following the encounter in Murphy, Price posted bond again. He was arrested on Jan. 16 of last year after authorities found him passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle on Die Bend Road. When deputies approached Price’s truck, they noticed a 12-gauge shotgun lying in his lap.
Officials removed Price from the vehicle at gunpoint and later found a loaded pistol, two Xanax pills, 44 grams of meth and two digital scales in the truck. Lab testing confirmed the meth seized during the arrest on Die Bend Road was 98 percent pure as well.