Adair County Woman Pleads Guilty to Distributing Crack Cocaine and Prescription Pills
Two-Year Investigation Ends with All 30 Defendants Pleading Guilty

BOWLING GREEN, KY—The last of 30 defendants indicted in an Adair County, Kentucky crack cocaine and controlled substance distribution ring has pleaded guilty in United States District Court, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Amanda Faye Pepper, age 28, of Adair County, Kentucky, pleaded guilty before Chief Judge Thomas B. Russell to five counts of a superseding indictment. Pepper admitted that between July 2007 and May 2009 she conspired with others to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and during that same time period conspired with others to distribute the prescription pills Suboxone, hydrocodone, and Xanax, all schedule III controlled substances. Also, according to the plea agreement, Pepper admitted to distributing crack cocaine on November 10, 2008 and November 13, 2008 and to distributing hydrocodone on November 10, 2008.

According to court records, investigators were able to intercept and record phone calls between the defendants, who used code language while discussing drug transactions. Investigators further recorded a drug transaction in which Pepper and a co-defendant sold 1.7 grams of crack cocaine for $300 and 11 hydrocodone pills for $100 at an apartment in Columbia, Kentucky.

The maximum potential penalties are life in prison and a $7,500,000 fine; and the minimum potential penalties are no less than 10 years in prison, and supervised release for a period of no less than five years.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Weiser, and it was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kentucky State Police.

Pepper will be sentenced before Chief Judge Russell, in United States District Court, Bowling Green, Kentucky.