A man caught twice in the past two years with large amounts of methamphetamine on his person was handed down a jail sentence this week in Haralson County.

During a Thursday court hearing in the Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court in Haralson County, Michael Shane Hulvey learned that he will be spending at least the next two decades behind bars after taking a guilty plea in an agreement with prosecutors to cop to his previous trafficking charges.

Hulvey was sentenced to 30 years in state prison – to serve 20 of those in custody – following a summer 2022 case where he was found with more than 30 grams of meth in a traffic stop where he fled on foot, and another earlier this year in January where he was found with methamphetamine a second time.

The 43-year-old Rockmart man took pleas to charges of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in both cases, but faced multiple other charges in the pair of incidents.

Hulvey first’s encounter with law enforcement in the case took place in 2022 after deputies with the Haralson County Sheriffs Office attempted to conduct a traffic stop for running a stop sign. During the stop, Hulvey took off from the deputy who was forced to stay behind with a passenger.

A subsequent search of the vehicle turned up 32 grams of methamphetamine right where Hulvey was driving in the area around the steering column, and accounted for the first possession charge along with others for traffic-related offenses involving the vehicle he was in at the time and for taking off from officers during the stop.

Hulvey was arrested on those charges in July 2022.

A year and a half later, Hulvey turned back up on the Sheriff’s Office radar during another traffic stop on January 9 earlier this year. He was traveling on Rockmart Road with a busted windshield and driving without a hood on his black Ford Mustang at the time.

Deputies got him to exit the vehicle, and when he was being patted down began to struggle before he was finally placed in cuffs. He had good reason to want to get away a second time since he was found to have 42.5 grams of meth on his person. He faced new felony distribution charges for the meth in that case, plus the traffic offenses he was stopped for during the early January incident.

He’ll soon be transferred to state Department of Corrections custody following the sentencing on Thursday, June 27.

In a press release about the case provided to local media on Friday, Sheriff Stacy Williams noted that he was glad to see justice served and thankful for the work of many involved in the cases bringing it a resolution.

“We are steadfast in our commitment to curbing the spread of illegal drugs in our community and hold those offenders accountable,” said Sheriff Williams. “Thanks to the diligent efforts of Investigator Robin Hood, our Crime Suppression Unit, ADA Peterkin and our Drug Task Force, this repeat offender will be off the streets of Haralson County for a long time. This sentence marks a significant step toward our goal of ensuring the safety of our citizens.”