Crime Time

Man gets 18 years for causing wreck that killed officer near Venus

A Johnson County jury sentenced a man to 18 years in prison on Monday for being drunk and causing a wreck that killed an off-duty Lancaster police officer.

Ricardo Espinoza pleaded guilty last week to one count of intoxication manslaughter with a deadly weapon and one count of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death.

Espinoza, 22, testified that he consumed seven beers, snorted meth and smoked marijuana less than 24 hours before he crashed into a motorcycle riden by Dustin Dodson.

Espinoza's lawyer praised him for taking responsibility for his actions. The prosecutor said he deserved no mercy.

Read both comments in this report from Mitch Mitchell.

-- Bill Miller

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/06/04/4906660/man-gets-18-years-in-prison-for.html#storylink=cpy

Meth no longer exclusive to rural America, more labs popping up in cities, police say

Methamphetamine lab seizures are on the rise in the nation's cities and suburbs, raising new concerns about a lethal drug that has long been the scourge of rural America.

It's happening in major cities such as St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., Nashville, Tenn., and Evansville, Ind., according to The Associated Press. Authorities are also seeing evidence that inner-city gangs are becoming involved in meth production and distribution.

"No question about it - there are more labs in the urban areas," said Tom Farmer, coordinator of the Tennessee Methamphetamine and Pharmaceutical Task Force. "I'm seeing car fires from meth in urban areas now, more people getting burned."

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/12/26/4508267/more-meth-labs-showing-up-in-cities.html#storylink=cpy

Two indicted on federal drug charges, one for allegedly supplying drugs that killed Grapevine girl

Misael "Irving" Perla, 24, of Dallas (left) is one of two men named this week in a nine-count federal indictment covering a slew of drug charges.

Specifically, he is accused of providing the drugs believed to have killed Cassidy Seward, 18, of Grapevine. She died Aug. 28 at a Grapevine hospital of "mixed drug toxicity" involving heroin and methamphetamine, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.

The other man, Hugo "Juice" Sanchez, 23, (right) was indicted on one count of possessing a firearm illegally because he is a convicted felon and another count of having a gun while trafficking drugs.

Bill Miller has more in this report.

 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/12/19/4497861/pair-indicted-in-two-drug-deaths.html#storylink=cpy

Gang accused of trafficking Mexican meth arrested in Dallas

Police and federal agents on Tuesday celebrated the take-down of a group accused of funneling methamphetamine and other drugs from Mexico into the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Seven people, believed to be part of the "Tony Hernandez Drug Trafficking Organization," were arrested Monday in Dallas, officials said in a news release.

Dallas police and FBI agents seized drugs, guns and several vehicles, including a Bentley, during the raids, according to the news release.

The investigation involved numerous undercover purchases involving significant quantities of methamphetamine and large amounts of cash as well as several court-ordered wire taps.

According to the news release, Tony Hernandez took over the gang after his brother, Gonzalo Hernandez, was murdered by members of the Zetas Mexican drug cartel.

Read more in this article by Bill Miller.

 

Cartel Watch: 80 percent of meth in U.S. now comes from Mexico, DEA says

Mexican drug cartels are quietly filling the void in the nation's drug market created by the long effort to crack down on American-made methamphetamine, flooding U.S. cities with exceptionally cheap, extraordinarily potent meth from factory-like "superlabs."

Although Mexican meth is not new to the U.S. drug trade, it now accounts for as much as 80 percent of the meth sold here, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. And it is as much as 90 percent pure, a level that offers users a faster, more intense and longer-lasting high.

"These are sophisticated, high-tech operations in Mexico that are operating with extreme precision," said Jim Shroba, a DEA agent in St. Louis. "They're moving it out the door as fast as they can manufacture it."

The cartels are expanding into the U.S. meth market just as they did with heroin: developing an inexpensive, highly addictive form of the drug and sending it through the same pipeline already used to funnel marijuana and cocaine, authorities said.

Read more in this report by The Associated Press.

A 7-year habit: Parker County teacher tells Ranger she did meth every day before school

A third-grade teacher in northeast Parker County was arrested this week after admitting to a Texas Ranger that she had been using methamphetamine in the mornings before class for about seven years.

Vickie Bruce, 46, was confronted by investigators Tuesday at school.

Texas Ranger James Holland said in an arrest warrant affidavit that Bruce admitted to using meth "before going to work for the last seven years 'off and on.'"

Read more here.

-- Bill Miller

Springtown schools in the news again, this time teacher busted for meth, station reports

The Springtown Independent School District has been in the news quite a bit this week. On Monday, the district made national headlines over a corporal punishment issue at Springtown High School.

And on Thursday night KDFW Fox 4 reported that a teacher at an elementary school was arrested for having drugs on campus.

Vicki Bruce, who teaches third grade at Reno Elementary School, "kept meth wrapped in tin foil in  a photo album in her purse," according to investigators mentioned in the Fox 4 report.

Fox 4 also reported that an arrest warrant affidavit stated Bruce told Texas Rangers "she utilized methamphetamines before going to work for the last seven years on and off."

Read more in the Fox 4 report.

-- Bill Miller