Laura Sue Aloa Covington Sentenced to Serve 135 Months in Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On February 6, 2019, Laura Sue Aloa Covington, 23, of Morristown, Tennessee, was sentenced by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, Senior U.S. District Court Judge, to serve over 11 years in federal prison. 

Covington pleaded guilty in October 2018 to conspiring with Jeffrey Scott Horner, 34 of Morristown, Tennessee; Joshua Tyler Garrett, 38, of Talbott, Tennessee; Faith Dillman-Covington, 26, of Morristown, Tennessee; Ricky Dwayne Collins, 38, of Morristown, Tennessee and others to distribute over 50 grams of methamphetamine in east Tennessee in 2017 and 2018.

All defendants in this case have been convicted and await sentencing. Horner is set to be sentenced on February 13, 2019. Garrett is set to be sentenced on March 4, 2019. Sentencing for Dillman-Covington is set for April 1 2019. Finally, Collins is set to be sentenced on April 8, 2018. All face 10 years to life in federal prison.

Agencies involved in this investigation included the Hamblen County Sheriff’s Department and FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert. M. Reeves represented the United States in court proceedings.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.   Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.       

This case was part of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. The HIDTA program enhances and coordinates drug control efforts among local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The program provides agencies with coordination, equipment, technology, and additional resources to combat drug trafficking and its harmful consequences in critical regions of the United States. The program began in 1988 when Congress authorized the Director of The Office of National Drug Control Policy designate areas within the United States that exhibit serious drug trafficking problems and harmfully impact other areas of the country as HIDTAs.

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