For many years, meth has ravaged rural American communities and left a string of addicts. Dealers can either dangerously cook up their own batches or get it shipped in from other countries. A Southwest Georgia man who did the latter will spend the next few decades in federal prison. On March 30, 44-year-old Chad Williamson of Fitzgerald, Georgia, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for close to two kilos of meth soaked in fabric and in crystal meth in packages at the Atlanta airport addressed to him from Mexico.
In March 2021, Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) intercepted two meth packages with Williamson’s address at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Parcel Center. The packages, marked as religious image and/or Bible gift, were shipped from Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico and contained a methamphetamine-soaked rug, which can be chemically extracted for use, along with 450 grams of crystal methamphetamine in the packages.
The DEA caught up with him in the same month. The agency reported:
“DEA agents went to Williamson’s residence on March 11, 2021. Williamson had removed the SIM card from his phone in an attempt to hide its contents. Williamson’s probation officer administered a drug test, which Williamson failed. Williamson was placed under arrest and subsequently admitted to agents that an associate used Williamson’s address for drug deliveries. The SIM card was located, and a download of Williamson’s phone showed a number of messages he had exchanged with the source of supply, saved in his phone as ‘Costa Chris.’ The messages revealed an on-going relationship between the two regarding illicit controlled substance deliveries requiring tracking and other drug deals.”
The packages intercepted contained 1926.2 grams of meth (459.2 grams were determined to be 98% pure). Williamson pleaded guilty to the crime in September 2022. The 20-year sentence will likely stick since there is no parole in the federal prison system.