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(2:50 PM) Jamestown Man Pleads Guilty For Role In Meth Ring

A Jamestown man has pleaded guilty for his alleged role in a methamphetamine distribution ring.

U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday said 27-year-old Ernest Clayburn Cauley Jr. entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo on a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul C. Parisi, who is handling the case, said that between March 2017 and Nov. 7, 2017, Cauley allegedly conspired with Zakiel Fields and others to “sell methamphetamine in the Jamestown area.”

“Cauley and Fields were the main suppliers of methamphetamine to a drug trafficking organization that was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force,” Kennedy said.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cauley met with an individual working with the task force on April 26, 2017, and exchanged methamphetamine for $120 in cash. The pair was subsequently arrested on Nov. 6, 2017, following a drug transaction during which Cauley and Field received a quantity of methamphetamine.

Cauley and Fields, driving in separate cars, were pulled over by police and arrested. Methamphetamine was found in the car in which Fields was riding, Kennedy said.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 40 years and a fine of $5 million. Cauley is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2 at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Vilardo.

Fields was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

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