Ronald Eli Lewis, 67, and Clifford Steve Lewis, 53, both of Cumberland County, were convicted by a federal jury on March 8 of conspiring to possess and distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, as well as possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, announced Jerry E. Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The verdicts stem from the attempted delivery of nearly 900 pounds of marijuana to the defendants’ family farm in Sparta on March 28, 2007.
Agents and officers with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) tracked the marijuana to the farm, where the defendants were arrested as they began to unload it. The jury heard evidence that the delivery was part of a larger scheme to ship thousands of pounds of marijuana via tractor trailer from Texas to Tennessee. Co-defendants Jimmy Clinton Smith of Texas and Eliseo Galvan of Oklahoma previously pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
A few days after the trial began, Ronald Lewis failed to appear in court. Lewis, who was out on bond during the pendency of the case, was determined to have fled from the trial and has not been located.
He remains at large, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Anyone with information about Ronald Lewis’s whereabouts should contact the U.S. Marshals Service Middle Tennessee Joint Fugitive Task Force at (615) 736-5417.
As a result of the convictions, both defendants face no less than five years and no more than 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine.
They are scheduled to be sentenced on June 22 by Chief U.S. District Judge Todd J. Campbell.
The investigation was conducted by the TBI and the DEA.
The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alex Little and Brent Hannafan.