United States Drug Enforcement Administration

MAY 7 -- United States Attorney John L. Brownlee announced today that Deron Jones, 37, of Bristol, Virginia, was sentenced in the United States District Court in Abingdon, Virginia, to two terms of life imprisonment and two additional terms of ten years imprisonment. Jones was convicted in December, 2006 by jury trial of conspiracy to distribute fifty grams or more of crack cocaine, possession with the intent to distribute fifty grams or more of crack cocaine, one count of distribution of five grams or more of crack cocaine, and one count of possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine.

According to evidence presented at trial by Special Assistant United States Attorney Zachary Lee, Jones, and his co-defendants, Ollie Cloyd and Monica Worley, also of Bristol, Virginia, were involved in the distribution of crack cocaine in the Bristol, Virginia area between July 2005 and November 2005. During that time period, Jones distributed crack cocaine from numerous locations in Bristol, Virginia and Tennessee, and also supplied Worley and others who sold crack cocaine for him.

On October 20, 2005, Jones and Cloyd sold 13.85 grams of crack cocaine to a confidential informant working for the Bristol Virginia Police Department. Jones was found to have an additional fifty-eight grams of crack cocaine and $4,659.00 in cash in his possession when he was arrested after the transaction. Additionally, on November 5, 2005, Jones and Worley were stopped by the Virginia State Police in Montgomery County, Virginia and found to have in their possession 4.9 grams of crack cocaine, $6,552.00 in cash, and digital scales. Jones had previously been convicted of at least two prior felony drug offenses in North Carolina. Worley was previously sentenced to ten years in prison and Cloyd was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Bristol Virginia Police Department Vice-Narcotics Unit, the Bristol Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Virginia State Police. Special Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee of the United States Attorney’s Office in Abingdon prosecuted the case.