GREENSBORO — A Richmond County man will spend the nearly two decades in federal prison for his role in making meth.
The office of Sandra J. Hairston, acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, announced Tuesday that 36-year-old Christopher Lee Huckabee was sentenced to 19 years and two months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons followed by 10-year term of supervised release.
In addition, Huckabee was ordered to pay $270.23 in restitution to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation for clean-up costs related to a meth lab located at his home on Feb. 4, as well as a $100 special assessment.
Huckabee was indicted in April — along with Robert Eugene Gregory — and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine on July 10.
He was initially arrested Feb. 4 allegedly for standing in the way of a residence to keep Deputy Chris Smith — who was in pursuit of a runaway 17-year-old girl investigators say Huckabee was harboring — from entering, according to a warrant. During that encounter, deputies also reportedly found two digital scales “with white residue.”
After further investigation, deputies say they found multiple ingredients to make meth at his Hickory Street home
Warrants at the time showed Huckabee was also in possession of an undisclosed amount of meth when he was booked into the Richmond County Jail.
Huckabee is also accused of throwing corrosive acid on a woman on Jan. 18, causing third-degree burns on her right arm, back and buttocks and resulting in the victim’s hospitalization. A trial for those charges is set to start on Jan. 8, 2018 in Richmond County Superior Court.
All defendants facing criminal charges is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Huckabee is a convicted felon with a record dating back to the late 1990s, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction. His convictions include felony charges of breaking and entering, common-law robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon.
He has also been convicted on multiple counts of driving while impaired, three counts of assault on a female, two counts of communicating threats and one count each of simple assault and violation of a protection order — all of which are misdemeanor charges.
Because meth was becoming a growing problem, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and the SBI initiated a federal meth conspiracy investigation with former U.S. Attorney Ripley Rand’s office in 2014. Since then, more than 50 people have been indicted on federal meth charges.
At least 20 of those were convicted in 2015.
Reach William R. Toler at 910-817-2674 or [email protected].