‘Career criminal’ receives 45 year sentence

March 21, 2024

WBBJ Staff,

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL JODY PICKENS, 26TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT:

Career Criminal Sentenced to 45 years for Guns, Fentanyl, Methamphetamine, and Other Drugs

On February 5, 2022, Officer Joshua Keller of the Jackson Police Department (JPD) conducted a traffic stop on a Jeep Cherokee for a window tint violation. Timmy Jerrell White, age thirty–eight (38) of Brownsville, Tennessee, was the driver and sole occupant. Smelling an odor of marijuana inside the vehicle, Keller asked White to step out of the vehicle while he conducted a search. Inside the vehicle Officer Keller found a Taurus 9mm pistol, $1,618 in currency, twenty–seven (27) hydrocodone pills, twelve (12) grams of methamphetamine, an ounce of marijuana, and other assorted pills and drug paraphernalia. Timmy White is a member of the Crips criminal street gang and is a convicted felon; thus, he could not legally possess a firearm. His criminal history includes three prior convictions for Possession of Schedule II Drugs with Intent to Sell or Deliver in Haywood County and Tipton County, Tennessee, from 2011 and 2007, Tampering with Evidence in Tipton County in 2008, Sexual Battery in Haywood County in 2008, Criminal Simulation in Lauderdale County in 2014, Theft and Forgery in Tipton County in 2007, and most recently being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm in Haywood County in 2021.

White was subsequently released on bail two days after his arrest but was re–arrested on June 8, 2022, after JPD Officer Greg Morris stopped White for disobeying a stop sign on Frontage Road in Jackson, Tennessee. While Officer Morris was speaking to White, he smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. White then fled on foot but was caught. Officer Morris searched his vehicle and found an SCCY 9mm pistol, sixty (60) grams of methamphetamine, 2,826 pills containing a mixture of fentanyl and a Schedule II narcotic called 4–anillo–N- phenethylpiperidine (ANPP), 300 grams of marijuana, twenty (20) Xanax bars, a small amount of MDMA, and other drug paraphernalia. After White was arrested the second time, the State of Tennessee subsequently petitioned Judge Donald Allen to have his bond revoked and held pending trial.

On February 27, 2023, the Madison County, Tennessee, Grand Jury returned two indictments against Timmy White, one for each of his arrests by JPD. He was charged across 117 counts with being a Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm; Possession of Schedule I, II, IV, and VI drugs with Intent to Sell and Deliver; Possession of a Firearm During a Commission of a Dangerous Felony; Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; Possession of Counterfeit. Bills; and several traffic offenses. Assistant District Attorney General Bradley Champine prosecuted the case on behalf of the State of Tennessee.

On March 18, 2024, Timmy White entered a plea of guilty to all charges before Judge Allen in Madison County Circuit Court Division II and received a total effective sentence of forty–five (45) years to serve in the Tennessee Department of Correction.

“This Defendant has had many chances to turn his life around,” said District Attorney General Jody Pickens. “Unfortunately, though, he chose to continue to be a member of a criminal street gang and traffic deadly drugs, particularly fentanyl, which has killed so many in our area. It would have been better for all involved, especially Mr. White, if he had chosen differently. Felon gang members, guns, and drugs – especially fentanyl – do not mix. Now, at least, his days of dealing drugs are over. We thank Officers Keller and Morris and all of our law enforcement partners who patrol our streets every day and night looking for those who would sell drugs in our communities.”