Man Sentenced After Plea In Gwinnett Drug Case

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — A man who recently pled guilty to trafficking illegal drugs in Gwinnett County has been sentenced to prison, prosecutors said.

A judge on Monday sentenced 57-year-old Gainesville resident Irvin Lamar Simpson to prison after he acknowledged selling fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, according to the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office.

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Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations first received a tip that Simpson was selling drugs in January 2023, prosecutors said.

At that time, the agents saw Simpson carrying a backpack and getting into a car. Prosecutors said deputies stopped the car, and a police K9 alerted to drugs inside the backpack.

Investigators recovered 35 grams of fentanyl, 98 grams of methamphetamine and more than 20 grams of cocaine – collectively worth about $4,000, prosecutors said. They added a handgun and scales were also recovered.

During the stop, Simpson "pulled away from deputies trying to arrest him" and fled to a wooded area nearby, prosecutors said. The K9 tracked Simpson and held him until he was in custody.

Prosecutors accused Simpson of being a career drug dealer, noting past felony convictions stretching back to the 1980s.

Six months prior to his arrest in Gwinnett, prosecutors said he was stopped "with a distribution amount of fentanyl" in Habersham County.

At the time, he had been released early from a federal prison as officials no longer deemed him a threat to society, prosecutors said.

Simpson on Monday pled guilty to three counts of trafficking fentanyl, one count of trafficking methamphetamine, one count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, obstruction and possession of a drug-related object in Gwinnett, prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to 45 years with 40 years to serve in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.

"This defendant had a chance to change with his release from federal prison, but he turned his back on that opportunity," Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a news release. "We are going to hold accountable anyone who peddles deadly drugs in this jurisdiction."