Meth trafficker guilty, sentenced to 25 years

PANAMA CITY, FL - A jury took about an hour Tuesday to find a Panama City man guilty as charged of trafficking in a large amount of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Steven Wayne Stottlemyer, 61, was found guilty as charged of Trafficking in Methamphetamine (more than 200 grams), and Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Sell within 1,000 feet of a school or college. Following the verdict, Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay sentenced Stottlemyer to 25 years in prison. Under Florida’s enhanced trafficking statutes, 15 years of that sentence is minimum-mandatory.

“The message is not complicated,” Prosecutor Frank Sullivan said of the verdict and sentence. “If you come here and traffic in drugs, our law enforcement agencies – in this case the Bay County Sheriff’s Office – are going to catch up with you.

“And our office is going to continue to prosecute these people and send them to prison using every statutory tool available,” he continued. “We will not tolerate people spreading this poison onto our streets.”

Sullivan called witnesses and presented evidence proving that the defendant was in possession of about 234 grams of methamphetamine at his residence and on his property March 29, 2022. Testimony showed he agreed to sell some of the drugs, which led to a search warrant being obtained by sheriff’s investigators.

The search resulted in the seizure of nearly 300 grams of methamphetamine.