Leonard Wayne Mullinax Sentenced to 235 Months on Methamphetamine, Firearm and Money Laundering Charges

            GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On October 7, 2019, Leonard Wayne Mullinax, 49, of Gaffney, South Carolina, was sentenced by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Court Judge, to serve 235 months in federal prison following convictions for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, launder money and possessing firearms in furtherance of his drug trafficking.

According to his plea agreement on file with the U.S. District Court, Mullinax was the out of state source of supply for this particular methamphetamine conspiracy operating in the Eastern District of Tennessee.  Following the indictment in this case, law enforcement officers searched  Mullinax’s residence and place of business in Gaffney, South Carolina and recovered an approximate kilogram of methamphetamine, 28 firearms, ammunition, a drug ledger, a vacuum sealer and other miscellaneous items of paraphernalia.  Mullinax stipulated that he was accountable for at least 4 but less 4.5 kilograms of methamphetamine and that he had been supplying co-defendant Edward Walters, 48, of Surgoinsville, Tennessee for about a year.  Edward Walters is currently pending sentencing.

Other defendants who have been previously sentenced in this methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy include Jamie Nicole Wilson, 42, of Gaffney, South Carolina, Jason Ronald Burchfield, 39, of Hawkins County, Tennessee, Matthew Glenn Russell, 27, of Rogersville, Tennessee, Amber Lynn Hall, 29, of Church Hill, Tennessee, Jimmy Lee Gray, 37, of Surgoinsville, Tennessee and Michael James Walters, 46, of Bristol, Tennessee, who were sentenced to 200 months, 149 months, 135 months, 135 months, 120 months and 120 months, in federal prison respectively. 

Law enforcement agencies participating in the investigation included the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office, Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), United States Postal Inspector, Third District Judicial Drug Task Force, Cherokee County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshal Service.   Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Taylor represented the United States.

This case was a result of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s drug supply reduction strategy. OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.