(EAST ST. LOUIS, IL) — The Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, James L. Porter, announced Thursday that Michael J. Murphy, 35, of Pontoon Beach, Illinois, was sentenced on January 28, 2016 to 36 months in federal prison for Distribution of Methamphetamine in Granite City in December, 2013. Murphy pled guilty to the federal charge on October 16, 2015. He has been in federal custody since then. According to evidence presented at Murphy’s change of plea hearing, Murphy sold approximately two ounces of methamphetamine to a police informant for $3,800 on December 11, 2013, near a tavern in Granite City. Charged along with Murphy was a co-defendant, Shawn A. Thompson, who supplied the methamphetamine to Murphy. Thompson has also pled guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, Illinois, on March 17, 2016. The investigation which resulted in Murphy’s arrest and conviction was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert L. Garrison.