SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WHCU) – An Indiana man with ties to a Cortland drug trafficking conspiracy is sentenced in United States District Court.

57-year-old John Rice was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison Friday. As part of his guilty plea, he admitted to supplying over 50 grams of methamphetamine and a handgun to Cortland based drug dealer Kyle Leeper. Leeper was sentenced to 40 years in November for the murder of a California man during a drug deal in 2019 as part of the conspiracy.

Additionally, Rice was ordered to serve a 4-year term of supervised released following the completion of his prison sentence. Rice’s federal sentence is consecutive to an Indiana State prison sentence he’s currently serving for unrelated drug charges.