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Garden center owner gets 30 years for selling iodine used to make meth



A federal judge in Chattanooga sentenced a garden center owner to 30
years in prison Friday morning for selling iodine used to make
methamphetamine.Advertisement



Joseph Swafford was convicted in March of all 40 counts of conspiring
to aid illegal drug manufacturing.

Prosecutors said Swafford sold large quantities of iodine to people
suspected of making the illegal stimulant in Tennessee, Georgia and
Alabama.

The defense had argued for a ten-year sentence, but federal District
Judge Curtis Collier handed down three decades in prison, saying he
hoped the sentence would help deter others tempted to illegally sell
meth ingredients.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Perry Piper said Swafford sold enough iodine to
manufacture more than 400 kilograms of meth. Enough, he said, to supply
"every human being" in southeastern Tennessee and some counties in
surrounding states.

Swafford must also forfeit his Chattanooga business, Broadway Home and
Garden Center.