The front windows of the Walter H. Rice Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse downtown.
A Georgia man has been sentenced to prison for trafficking large amounts of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine into Ohio, in particular for distribution in Xenia, Dayton and elsewhere.
David Gullatte, 39, of Lithonia, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Walter H. Rice to 170 months, or 14 years and two months, in prison for first smuggling dugs to Atlanta and Dayton from a source in California, and then for supplying drugs to a trafficking ring in Xenia while under indictment for the initial drug smuggling charges, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
David J. Gullatte
He was first indicted in May 2024, then for the additional smuggling in March 2025. He pleaded guilty in both cases in September 2025.
According to court documents, Gullatte would buy drugs from California and arrange for his supplier to mail the drugs to homes in Atlanta and Dayton, from which he would resell them to traffickers in southern Ohio and elsewhere.
For example, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that one of the shipments, received in Sept. 2020 in Atlanta, contained more than 20 kilograms of methamphetamine, which Gullatte allegedly arranged to be taken for delivery and resale in Dayton.
Court records said that one of the sources was a man named Ernesto Villalobos, who was also charged in federal court for drug smuggling and was sentenced in June 2026 to 12 and a half years in prison.
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In all, Gullate was accused of being responsible for trafficking more than 30 kilograms of various controlled substances, including cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl.