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United States Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama announced that Tarrence Dramon Tolbert, 40, of Brewton, Alabama, was sentenced on June 29, 2021 to 135 months’ imprisonment for his possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on February 24, 2020.

In January of 2021, Tolbert pled guilty to the charge in federal court in Mobile. According to documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, Tolbert was a corrections officer trainee at Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, on February 24,
2020, and a supervisor observed that he was stopped on the side of the road at about 8:30 p.m.

The supervisor stopped and asked Tolbert if everything was okay, and Tolbert replied that he was waiting on a relative. The supervisor was suspicious about these circumstances, and left instructions to have Tolbert and his belongings searched when he arrived for his shift.
Investigators conducted the search as instructed, and discovered methamphetamine ice, marijuana, earbuds, a SIM card, cigars, two bottles of liquor and two knives, which Tolbert intended to smuggle into the prison and deliver to certain inmates.

United States District Court Judge William H. Steele imposed the sentence of 135 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release when Tolbert is released from custody. No fine was imposed but Tolbert was also ordered to pay a mandatory
special assessment of $100.

The case was investigated by the Alabama Department of Corrections, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted in the United States Attorney’s Office by Assistant United States Attorney Gloria
Bedwell.