Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Three Clark County residents will serve federal prison time after pleading guilty to trafficking large amounts of methamphetamine.

According to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation began on Feb. 28, 2019, when Deputy Ernie Evans stopped a vehicle on Interstate 64 for a traffic violation. During a search of the vehicle, a Kentucky State Police K9 unit detected the presence of narcotics. Officers found about eight ounces of meth in the vehicle.

During the investigation, officers purchased about one pound of meth, and determined the three suspects were distributing a pound of meth a week.

Police said Kenneth Briles, 54, was driving 47-year-old Shane Smith around Louisville to purchase meth. Smith then brought the drugs to Winchester, which he sold through Amanda York’s apartment on Westwood Drive.

York and Briles both pleaded guilty to one count each of aiding and abetting the possession and distribution of meth, while Smith was charged with distribution.

York and Briles were sentenced to 32 months and 51 months, respectively. Smith was sentenced to 72 months, or six years, in federal prison.

All three were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Lexington.

Inmates in the federal prison system must serve 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for parole.