On Wednesday, a federal district judge in Waco sentenced 18 Aryan Brotherhood members and associates to federal prison for their involvement in a methamphetamine distribution operation.
The sentences ranged from a year and nine months, to 15 years and eight months in federal prison. They will be under supervised release upon serving prison time and required to pay $1,000 fine.
The 18 defendants pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to posses with intent to distribute meth. Two of the defendants pleaded guilty for possession of felon in possession of a firearm. One of them pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.
"These sentences resulted from unprecedented collaboration of federal, state, and local law enforcement targeting a large-scale prison gang involved in violent organized crime over three counties in Central Texas,”said FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs.
“This effort not only exemplifies our commitment to prevent gang violence and criminal activity from poisoning our communities, but it also sends a clear message that we will relentlessly pursue and prosecute the leaders and members of these violent criminal enterprises regardless of where they lay their heads.”
Several law enforcement agencies worked together while conducting a joint investigation to cut off and shut down the supply of meth trafficked by the Aryan Brotherhood.
“Operation ‘La Flama Blanca' has inflicted a debilitating blow to the network of shadow and often violent facilitators of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas,” said Joseph M. Arabit, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration--Houston Field Division.
Authorities have seized nearly nine pounds of methamphetamine, 15 firearms and more than $9,000 in cash, along with other assets in connection with the 10-month long investigation.
The names of the defendants Walter S. Smith sentenced on Wednesday:
1. David Aguilar, age 35, of Belton
2. Oscar Walker, age 30, of Temple
3. Ronnie Johnson, age 49, of Belton
4. Christopher Breckenridge, age 39, of Gatesville
5. Robert Morgan, age 45, of
6. John McLaughlin, age 34, of
7. William Hubert Brackett, age 24, of
8. Lucas West, age 29, of
9. James Malady, age 28, of Belton
10. Ricky Levy, age 54, of
11. Joshua Wilkins, age 27, of Gatesville
12. Michelle Johnson, age 47, of Belton
13. Nicole Marshall, age 35, of Gatesville
14. Farron Russell, age 34, of Belton
15. Thomas Clifton, age 46, of
16. Jeremiah Jones, age 37, of Gatesville
17. Larry Wayne Jeremiah, age 33, of Belton
18. Robert Blake Doty, age 32, of
More than a dozen defendants have yet to be sentenced.
