BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

LEXINGTON — A Martin County man will spend more than 13 years in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine after admitting he sold more than 100 grams of the drug to a confidential informant in Martin County.

Cody Gene Spears, 30, of Lovely, was sentenced June 26 in U.S. District Court to 164 months in prison, or 13 years and eight months, followed by five years of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell ordered the federal sentence to run consecutively to Spears’ three-year sentence in Martin County case 24-CR-00075. He began serving that time in that case in October 2025 for possession of firearm by a convicted felon.

Spears pleaded guilty in January to the distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.

According to the plea agreement, law enforcement used a confidential informant Sept. 18, 2025, to make a controlled purchase from Spears at his residence on Long Branch in Martin County. Investigators provided the informant with $1,200, and Spears distributed 101.8 grams of what he knew to be methamphetamine, the agreement states.

The plea agreement states that before that purchase, law enforcement used an informant Sept. 15, 2025, to buy 52.713 grams of methamphetamine from Spears.

The court recommended that Spears participate in drug education and treatment, as well as vocational, educational or training programs while in Bureau of Prisons custody. The court also recommended placement at the facility nearest his home for which he qualifies.

Upon release, Spears must refrain from alcohol use, participate in substance abuse treatment and submit to drug testing. He must also submit to searches by U.S. probation officers as a condition of supervision.

Spears was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.