Dalton Meth Dealer Sentenced to Prison
McGuire Fought Police Officers When Being Arrested and Later Tried to Escape from the Hospital

ROME, GA—A Dalton man who sold a pound of methamphetamine to a police cooperator, Jeffrey McGuire, 40, of Dalton, Georgia, was sentenced today to 11 years, six months by United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy for selling a pound of methamphetamine to a man cooperating with the police investigation.

“Methamphetamine has had a devastating impact on communities in North Georgia,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “This defendant was caught trying to sell a pound of very pure methamphetamine. Today’s prison sentence will prevent this meth dealer from further contributing to the deterioration of our community.”

McGuire was sentenced to 11 years, six months, to be followed by four years of supervised release. McGuire was convicted on October 18, 2012, upon his plea of guilty.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court, in January 2012, McGuire agreed to sell one pound of methamphetamine to a man for $17,000. Unbeknownst to McGuire, his customer was cooperating with the police investigation and was working at the direction of the police. The police recorded phone calls between McGuire and the cooperator as they made arrangements for the drug deal. During one of those calls, the cooperator told McGuire that he would keep the money for the drugs in the trunk of his car. McGuire responded, “There better not be a Mexican in the trunk or I’ll have to shoot him.”

Eventually, McGuire and the cooperator agreed to meet at a Kangaroo gas station in Dalton. The police observed McGuire arrive in a BMW SUV. The cooperator arrived a few minutes later and parked next to McGuire’s SUV. McGuire got into the passenger seat of the cooperator’s car and showed him the drugs. The cooperator then gave a prearranged signal to the police that McGuire had the methamphetamine. The police moved in to arrest McGuire and pulled him out of the cooperator’s car. However, McGuire vigorously resisted arrest. It took the police several minutes to subdue and restrain him. The police recovered a pound of methamphetamine that was 90 percent pure. They also found a loaded .25 caliber pistol in the SUV.

Due to injuries that McGuire received while resisting arrest, he was taken to the hospital. A Whitfield County deputy sheriff was present to guard him. Despite the deputy sheriff’s presence, McGuire tried to escape. He ran down the hospital hallway and twice struck a nurse. Even after the deputy sheriff used a Taser on McGuire, he continued to struggle and tried to grab the deputy sheriff’s firearm. The deputy sheriff was ultimately able to use sufficient force to subdue McGuire.

This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force, and Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Nekia S. Hackworth and Paul R. Jones prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Information Office at USAGAN.Pressemails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.