3 sentenced for convictions in Ky. meth trafficking case

Published 1:30 pm Friday, August 11, 2023

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Sentencings of three men in two separate cases, following their convictions for methamphetamine trafficking and an ATM theft, were the subjects of hearings at U.S. District Court in Paducah, it was announced by the U.S Attorney’s office for the Western District of Kentucky.

According to court documents, on separate dates in March, June, and August of 2021, in Caldwell County, Kentucky, Donald Ray Adams, 49, of Princeton, distributed 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Further, on September 23, 2021, Adams possessed with the intent to distribute over 400 grams of the drug. Adams was sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by a 5-year term of supervised release.

Meanwhile, two Houston, Texas men learned their fate, after convictions for their roles in a theft from an ATM in Paducah.

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Otis J. Gibson, 24, was sentenced to 38 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for bank larceny and interstate transportation of stolen funds.  Eric J. Rhodes, 25, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release, for bank larceny and interstate transportation of stolen funds.  There is no parole in the federal court system.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says Gibson, Rhodes, and unnamed co-conspirators stole cash from a stand-alone ATM located on US Highway 60 near the Kentucky Oaks Mall in Paducah on June 10, 2020.  The group used a stolen truck, chain, and pry bars to break open the ATM.  Over $150,000 was stolen from the machine.  Following the theft, they traveled across state lines with the stolen cash.

Gibson was also indicted by a federal grand jury in Missouri for his role in a January 9, 2020, ATM theft in Saint Louis.  That indictment was transferred to the Western District of Kentucky.  He was also sentenced today to a concurrent prison sentence for bank larceny charged in the Missouri indictment.

The two men were also ordered to pay $158,127 in restitution for the Paducah ATM theft, while Gibson must pay an additional $98,748 for the Missouri bank larceny.