SAN ANTONIO — U.S. District Judge Jason K. Pulliam sentenced Terry Lynn Clay to nine years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine, according to a Department of Justice news release. Clay was the tenth and final defendant sentenced in connection with the case, court documents show.

The conspiracy dates to June 2021, when Clay moved 992.4 grams of methamphetamine and 526 grams of cocaine, according to court documents. He purchased the methamphetamine from Timothy Bland in Houston and then transferred the narcotics to Tonya Vonci Middleton-Harris, according to the Department of Justice news release.

Troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety took Clay and Middleton-Harris into custody shortly after the transfer of the drugs, according to the Department of Justice news release. The arrest followed a sequence of transactions that began in Houston and ended with Clay handing off the narcotics to Middleton-Harris.

On October 29, 2024, Clay pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine, according to the news release. The guilty plea came more than three years after the June 2021 conspiracy took place.

Middleton-Harris received a two-year sentence in federal prison earlier in 2024, according to the news release. Bland, who supplied the methamphetamine to Clay in Houston, is serving a sentence of 19 years and seven months, the news release states. Clay's sentencing marked the conclusion of a case in which ten defendants in total were sentenced in federal court.