A Bogue Chitto man found guilty in federal court of distributing marijuana has been sentenced to more than 17 years by a U.S. district judge in Natchez.

Donyale Jerrel Holloway, 37, along with Ennis Montgomery, 48, of Rockford, Illinois, were sentenced Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Judge David C. Bramlette III, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 kilograms or more of marijuana, according to U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst.

Holloway was sentenced to 211 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $53,674.00.

Montgomery was sentenced to 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Both defendants were also ordered to pay a $1,500 fine.

The defendants were two of seven individuals arrested in March after a two-year investigation into a drug trafficking organization operating in South Mississippi.

Montgomery was transporting marijuana in an 18-wheeler from Texas to Lincoln County. Holloway would then distribute the marijuana in Southwest Mississippi, Hurst said.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force in Hattiesburg, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Mississippi State Auditor, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and the Hattiesburg Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry L. Rushing.