ALBANY — A Doerun resident found guilty of distributing large amounts of methamphetamine in Thomas County and another Southwest Georgia community was sentenced Wednesday in Albany U.S. District Court to 14 years in federal prison.

Judge Louis Sands sentenced Samuel Matthew “Cruz” Howard, 27, to serve 168 months in a federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Howard was found guilty of two counts of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute following a bench trial before Sands in August 2020. There is no parole in the federal system.

“The defendant brazenly continued pushing large quantities of methamphetamine into Southwest Georgia communities, even following his first arrest. Howard’s repeat criminal actions have resulted in a lengthy federal prison sentence,” said acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “I want to commend the Thomas County/Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division and the DEA for their excellent investigative work in this case and helping bring this repeat offender to justice.”

“As drug dealers prey on communities, they often ignore county or state lines. It’s great to have the cooperation of all state and federal agencies to aid in the arrest and prosecution of these drug traffickers. Hopefully, (Mr.) Howard’s arrest and incarceration will be a deterrent to current and/or future drug traffickers,” said Louis Schofill, Thomas County/Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division commander.

 Howard was taken into custody on two separate occasions for attempting to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine in communities in Southwest Georgia.

The first incident occurred on Oct. 11, 2016. A Thomas County-Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division agent received information from a confidential source (CS) who said a man known as “Cruz” would deliver a large quantity of methamphetamine to someone at a residence on North Church Street in Meigs within the hour.

Agents, conducting surveillance, observed the defendant drive up to the residence in a blue Buick and approached Howard. During a search of Howard’s vehicle, agents found three plastic bags containing 85.2 grams of 99% pure ice methamphetamine in the center console armrest, a gray zip pouch containing numerous empty plastic sandwich bags, a digital scale and $1,819 under the armrest.

A search warrant of Howard’s cell phone revealed numerous text messages to and from Howard discussing drug transactions and prices right up to the hour of his arrest.

The second incident occurred on April 26, 2018, when Howard was arrested in possession of about 222.3 grams of methamphetamine. A CS contacted Howard via text message to arrange the purchase of methamphetamine from Howard at a McDonald’s in Adel. Howard was taken into custody at the McDonald’s in possession of a box with “Gucci” written on it, containing 222.3 grams of methamphetamine, found inside his blue Buick.

Schofill described Howard as “a large meth dealer.”

“He was working under someone he could get large amounts from,” Schofill said. “He was working under a major supplier who was local to Southwest Georgia.”

The major supplier is among individuals being federally-prosecuted in other methamphetamine cases, Schofill said.

“We try to prosecute as many cases as possible at the federal level when a major drug dealer is involved,” he said.

This meth trafficker, who happens to be a repeat offender, was ultimately sentenced because of DEA’s commitment to remove dangerous drugs from communities, said Robert J. Murphy, special agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division. 

“(Mr.) Cruz will now spend well-deserved time in prison, and his apprehension makes the Southwest Georgia community a safer place today,” Murphy said.

Howard was previously convicted of theft by taking in Colquitt County Superior Court.