Three Florida men sentenced to life in prison, fined $2 million for trafficking meth across state lines

Three Florida men were sentenced to life in prison and fined a total of $2 million for trafficking methamphetamine across multiple state lines, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

A federal jury found the men guilty in July.

U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell sentenced Brown Laster Jr., 37, of Tampa; Jerry Browdy, 44, of Riverview and Wesley Petiphar, 30, of Davenport, each to life in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.

The court also ordered Browdy to forfeit $106,060 and Petiphar to forfeit $22,400, which were traced as proceeds of the offense.

Laster was fined $1 million and Browy and Petiphar were each fined $500,000, according to officials.

According to testimonies and evidence, the men were part of a conspiracy to ship kilograms of meth from Sacramento, Calif., to various hotels in Florida and Georgia via Federal Express.

Evidence showed that, according to officials, the men had sent around 40 packages of meth through the mail per week throughout 2015. The drugs were delivered to co-conspirators who had been asked to wait at the hotels for the packages to arrive. The meth was then delivered to local drug traffickers.

Witnesses also revealed that the men enforced the conspiracy through violence, including one incident where a cooperating witness had a gun placed in his mouth so forcefully that it knocked out some of his front teeth, officials said.

The case was investigated by the DEA with assistance from several local agencies.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Three Florida men sentenced to life in prison, fined $2 million for trafficking meth across state lines."