BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A man from Talladega, Alabama, will spend the next decade behind bars after being sentenced for a drug-related offense, U.S. Attorney Phillip Williams Jr. revealed on Tuesday.
Twenty-seven-year-old Isaiah Merritt received a 120-month prison sentence following his guilty plea for possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, an admission he made in February.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Service were keeping a watchful eye on the activities in Talladega on April 16, 2024, as part of their mission to locate Merritt. This search followed his 2018 conviction by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama for methamphetamine distribution intentions, which had previously earned him 65 months of prison time plus an additional 120 months of supervised release.
Merritt managed to escape while finishing his sentence at a halfway house. His actions led to an indictment and conviction for escaping custody, resulting in a November 2022 sentence of 16 months in prison, accompanied by 36 months of supervised release.
Due to his failure to keep in touch with his probation officer and document his whereabouts, warrants for Merritt’s arrest were promptly issued.