Three men who pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 35 kilograms of methamphetamine through Orlando International Airport in 2022 have been sentenced to federal prison.
On Tuesday, July 16, U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron sentenced the first defendant in this case, 41-year-old Richardson Sid of Winter Haven, to 6 years and 6 months behind bars for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Six days later, the judge sentenced 46-year-old Venus Lott of Bartow to five years in prison for the same offense.
On Wednesday, August 28, the third defendant, 48-year-old Jevonn Clayton of Auburndale, was handed a prison sentence of 13 years and 2 months.
According to court records, on August 11, 2022, Clayton agreed to transport suitcases containing methamphetamine from California to Orlando on behalf of a drug trafficker.
Clayton and the drug trafficker soon recruited two individuals, Lott and Sid, to travel to California to assist with transporting the suitcases.
Less than a week later, on August 16, 2022, Clayton, Lott, and Sid departed Los Angeles for Orlando. They had a total of five suitcases that were “packed with large amounts of methamphetamine.”
Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation were investigating inbound flights at Orlando International Airport. When the three men arrived at the airport, agents located and searched their suitcases.
During that search, agents recovered several vacuum-sealed bags containing over 35 kilograms of methamphetamine.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah P. Dorman.