YOUNGSTOWN — Jeffrey L. Battle, 37, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in federal prison after pleading guilty earlier to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Authorities said he possessed 81 pounds of the drug and was arrested after he led law enforcement on a high-speed chase from Liberty to Canfield as part of an ongoing investigation through the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Phillip Calabrese oversaw the case and handed down the sentence.

Federal prosecutors filed a sentencing memorandum in the case, saying that Battle was a “key participant in a methamphetamine distribution operation involving the transport of multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics from Arizona to Northeast Ohio.”

On Aug. 14, 2024, agents with the task force saw Battle transferring duffel bags — later found to contain the methamphetamine — from a semitruck into a rental Dodge Ram pickup truck.

When officers tried to make a traffic stop, Battle fled on a high-speed chase, striking an officer’s vehicle, reaching speeds of about 90 miles per hour, the sentencing memorandum states.

After abandoning the truck, Battle fled on foot and was apprehended that evening with the assistance of aerial surveillance and a law enforcement dog.

A search of the vehicle revealed two duffel bags containing about 81 pounds of methamphetamine, the memorandum states.

The agencies that assisted the task force in the chase included the Youngstown Police Department, the Ohio State Highway Patrol Canfield Post and a Liberty Township Police Department K-9 unit.

Battle will be on 10 years of supervised release after he leaves prison.

“This was not a low-level trafficking offense,” the memorandum states. “Battle transported (81 pounds) of pure methamphetamine, placing him at the highest level of the drug quantity table.”

“This staggering quantity signifies Battle’s role in a high-level trafficking operation,” it states.

It added that “Battle’s conduct during his arrest justifies additional concern. He engaged in a reckless high-speed flight from officers, reaching speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, striking a cruiser, and only abandoning the vehicle once he believed he had escaped.”

The memorandum stated that Battle’s conduct “perpetuated a drug epidemic that continues to endanger lives throughout the Northern District of Ohio and beyond. It urged Calabrese to give Battle a sentence at the top of the federal sentencing range “to reflect the gravity of Mr. Battle’s conduct, promote respect for the law, provide just punishment and afford adequate deterrence.”

Battle’s attorney, David Betras, filed a sentencing memorandum that stated that prosecutors mischaracterized the nature of the collision involving Battle’s rental van and a cruiser, stating that it was “the law enforcement officer’s vehicle that was the one to strike the rental van.”

Betras argued that federal sentencing guidelines call for a defendant to be sentenced lower if his or her primary function is as “a courier, running errands, sending or receiving phone calls or messages, or serving as a lookout.”

Battle “never exceeded the lowest level of his organization’s drug trafficking function.”

Battle was born in Phoenix to parents who relied on drugs and were prone to physical altercations, Betras stated. He has four children and a “long work history,” and “has taken responsibility for his actions in the transportation of methamphetamine products,” Betras stated.

Battle asked to be placed in the federal prison near his home — the federal correctional institute in Safford, Arizona, near Tucson.