William Tanner Prater was ordered Monday to serve 5 years and 3 months in a federal correctional facility completing a successful Project Safe Neighborhoods prosecution by the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.   

Prater was sentenced in Chattanooga by U.S. District Court Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice on his earlier guilty plea to weapons and narcotics violations. As part of his sentence, Prater will have 36 months of supervision after his release from prison.  

The arrest of Prater and others was the result of undercover buys of meth that took place in the summer of 2009 and ultimately led to the execution of a search warrant in July by BCSO’s Drug Enforcement Unit at an apartment on Collegeview Drive.  

Detectives entered the residence and found several individuals involved in the manufacture of meth. 

Sheriff Tim Gobble said Project Safe Neighborhoods is helping to make our community safer imposing lengthy sentences on some of our most violent offenders.