An Aragon woman will be spending the next 10 years in jail without any chance of parole after making a plea deal for less time in a 2019 Drug Task Force case that saw co-conspirators arrested in Polk and Floyd counties.
District Attorney Jack Browning said the prosecution of co-defendants will be assisted by the guilty plea and testimony provided by Amanda Lynn Dempsey of 106 Formby Trail, Aragon, after she was charged with multiple counts of drug possession and distribution, along with a charge for street gang activity.
According to Browning, Dempsey took a guilty plea on the charges and was sentenced to 20 years of prison time, with 10 years to serve without any potential for parole.
“She didn’t win the lottery by any means,” Browning said. “She got a fair deal considering her cooperation in testifying against the other defendants in this case.”
Browning said that major co-conspirators in the case will still face severe penalities Dempsey’s testimony proffered on Tuesday, recording for the court that she was among several who were trafficking in methamphetamine. She also provided the court with enough information to continue to push for street gang activity convictions as well.
Previous reporting from the Rome News-Tribune cited Dempsey as a member of the Aryan Brotherhood along with boyfriend Christopher Shane Smith, who was released from prison months before the investigation into drug trafficking of methamphetamine between Polk and Floyd counties was taken up by both Drug Task Forces. Their involvement with the Aryan Brotherhood is a central point in Browning seeking street gang activity charges against several defendants in the case.
Additional major co-defendants in the case include Debra Lynn Dempsey, Danny Glenn Dorris, and Chad Carver Garrison, among others reported by Browning who will face trials of their own in the future.
Other co-defendants in the case who were considered minor players have already entered pleas and been sentenced, Browning said.
He cited Dempsey as the “first major player to enter a guilty plea” in the case after more than a year since arrests were made in 2019. The plea and sentencing were heard on April 27 in Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court Judge Mark Murphy’s courtroom.
Dempsey will serve 10 years in state prison on charges of trafficking in cocaine, illegal drugs, marijuana or methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine and possession of meth with intent, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon or first offender, possession of firearm or knife during commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies, theft by receiving stolen property, unlawful for person employ/associate with criminal street gang to conduct/participate in criminal activity, use of a communication facility in committing or facilitating a felony act and possession of a schedule I controlled substance.
