United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

SEVEN DEFENDANTS SENTENCED IN METHAMPHETAMINE AND COCAINE DISTRIBUTION CONSPIRACY CASE

Conspiracy Leader Sentenced to Nearly 22 Years in Federal Prison

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor sentenced several defendants yesterday for their role in a methamphetamine and cocaine drug distribution conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. The seven defendants, all residents of Vernon, Texas, were arrested in August 2010, as a result of the investigative efforts of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Wichita Falls Police Department, the Wilbarger County District Attorney’s Office, and the Vernon Police Department. All defendants pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy, which ran from December 2008 to August 2010, rather than proceed to trial.

Those convicted and their federal sentences, to be served without parole, are:

∙ Guillermo Lorenzo Urista, 24, 262 months
∙ Nicholas Gilbert Leija, Sr., 33, 63 months
∙ Armando Rodriguez, Jr., 34, 40 months
∙ Abraham Socorro Garcia, 22, 78 months
∙ Mario Escobar, Jr., 25, 120 months
∙ John Thomas Coston, 27, 120 months
∙ Beatriz Urista, 22, 46 months

During the course of executing several federal and state search and arrest warrants, law enforcement seized narcotics, drug distribution paraphernalia, firearms and cash.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Dewald of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas.

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