Published: November 04, 2009 09:43 pm         

Five sentenced in meth ring bust

TERRE HAUTE — Five people were sentenced in federal court Wednesday in connection with the December bust of a methamphetamine trafficking ring in Vigo County.

Hugh Dean was sentenced to 17 years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release.

James Chambers will serve 151 months with five years supervised release. Steve Swayze received a five-year sentence with five years supervised release. Brandon Nemeth will serve eight years in prison with four years of supervised release.

Gary Herman was sentenced through a negotiated plea agreement to serve five years in prison and five years supervised release.

All five must pay a $1,000 fine. And, Nemeth forfeited $29,460 attributed to the drug trafficking operation.

Today, five more defendants are expected to appear in federal court for sentencing.

They are among 20 Vigo County residents indicted on federal drug charges by the U.S. District Court for Southern Indiana.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley A. Blackington said the cases are moving relatively fast through the federal justice system considering the scope of the investigation that led to the breakup of the local meth import cartel.

“It takes a lot of time for everyone involved to go through the evidence,” Blackington said.

He estimates that investigators monitored 4,000 to 5,000 phone conversations among the defendants, and of those, 500 to 600 were drug-related.

Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com.