PIKEVILLE, Ky. — A Johnson County woman has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for her part in a drug distribution conspiracy.
Samantha Nichole Daniels, 37. of Nippa, pleaded guilty last December to a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute meth. Her co-defendant, 31-year-old Aaron Tyler Welch, of Thealka, also pleaded guilty to the same charge in April.
Both admitted to obtaining a source for pound quantities of meth and reselling it to users and other dealers in the Johnson County area beginning in 2021 and ending with their arrest in March of 2022. During that arrest, police seized more than a pound of meth and nearly $7,900 in cash.
Their plea agreements indicate they sold between 3 and 11 lbs. of the drug.
Daniels was sentenced Monday to 81 months in prison.
That sentence was a significant departure from the typical punishment for the crime, which is set at between 10 years and life in prison. Sentencing guidelines based on an investigation into the details of her life called for a sentence of between 135 and 168 months.
Welch will be sentenced later this week.
