James T. Jacks
Acting United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

MAN AND WOMAN FROM WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, PLEAD GUILTY
TO DRUG AND FIREARMS CHARGES

Law Enforcement Discovered Methamphetamine Being Manufactured at Their Residence

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Ricky Joe Lewis and Alexis Hunter, of Wichita Falls, Texas, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert K. Roach, to various federal charges stemming from their arrest in late December 2008, when law enforcement discovered methamphetamine being manufactured, as well as firearms, at their residence, announced Acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Ricky Joe Lewis, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of manufacturing a controlled substance, one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and one count of manufacturing methamphetamine on premises where a child resides. He faces a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison and $1.75 million in fines. He has been in custody since his arrest in December.

Alexis Hunter, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premise. She faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Roach remanded her into custody.

Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor on October 13, 2009.

According to plea documents filed in the case, on December 30, 2008, a Wichita Falls County Constable attempted to serve Alexis Hunter, who was renting a residence on Grant Street in Wichita Falls, with eviction paperwork. Lewis lived with Hunter at the residence she was leasing. As the Constable approached, he noticed a strong odor of anhydrous ammonia and ether coming from the residence, a sign that methamphetamine was being manufactured. When a Wichita Falls Sheriff’s Deputy arrived at the scene, he too noticed the odor, as well as a box fan in a bedroom window that could be seen drawing chemical vapors from the room.

1 Ricky Joe Lewis opened the front door to the residence after the Constable and Sheriff’s Deputy knocked several times. Alexis Hunter remained in the south bedroom of the residence with her three-year-old daughter. After obtaining permission from Hunter to search the residence, officers discovered that the chemical smell was so strong because methamphetamine was in the process of being manufactured.

Officers recovered numerous items and paraphernalia used to manufacture methamphetamine, including sulfuric acid, plastic ware, tubing, chemical soaked filters, empty boxes of pseudoephedrine, a food grinder, and a baggie of ground pseudoephedrine, the primary ingredient needed to manufacture methamphetamine. Law enforcement also recovered digital scales and glass pipes with methamphetamine residue. In the bathroom, a child’s plastic toy box was being used as a hydrogen chloride (HCL) gas generator, which is used to convert liquid methamphetamine into powder methamphetamine. The gas is produced by mixing sulfuric acid with salt, and it is flammable and poisonous. A large blue plastic water container containing anhydrous ammonia, used in the production of methamphetamine, was found underneath a child’s wading pool in the front yard.

Law enforcement also recovered a 12-gauge shotgun and a .22 caliber revolver in the residence.

Lewis admitted that his manufacturing methamphetamine at the residence where the 3-year-old child lived, and when she was present, caused her to be exposed to dangerous and poisonous chemicals and gases used that are used in the manufacturing process and caused the child to become exposed to, and test positive for, methamphetamine. Hunter admitted that she made the residence available for the unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine and that she well knew Ricky Joe Lewis was in the process of manufacturing methamphetamine when law enforcement came to the residence on December 30, 2008.

The case is being investigated by the Wichita Falls County Sheriff’s Office, the Wichita Falls County District Attorney’s Office Drug Task Force, and the Wichita Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank L. Gatto is prosecuting the case.

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