Meth Trafficker Sentenced for Stockpiling Guns, Explosives, and Operating Moonshine Still

A Cherokee County man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to trafficking methamphetamine while stockpiling explosives, illegal firearms, and operating a moonshine still.

Michael Ferrell Price, 68, also known as “Cheese,” was sentenced on August 21, 2025, by U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross to 87 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release. Price pleaded guilty on May 7, 2025, to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm by an unlawful drug user.

According to court records, agents with the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad began investigating Price in September 2024 for distributing methamphetamine from his 90-year-old mother’s property in eastern Cherokee County. On October 22, 2024, agents executed a search warrant and recovered more than three ounces of crystal methamphetamine, several gallons of homemade moonshine, dozens of explosive devices, and over 150 firearms.

Among the recovered weapons were two machineguns, a short-barreled rifle, a privately manufactured firearm without a serial number, five silencers, and a stolen revolver. Investigators also discovered Price was a longtime methamphetamine user, making it illegal for him to possess firearms or explosives under federal law.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad, with assistance from the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.

U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg prosecuted the case.