Chad Hollowell Sentenced in East Texas Meth Trafficking Ring

A 46-year-old Tyler, Texas man has been locked up for more than a decade after admitting his role in a high-volume methamphetamine trafficking operation that pumped over 500 grams of the drug through East Texas. Chad Hollowell was sentenced today to 151 months in federal prison, marking the end of a case rooted in speed, cash, and firepower.

Hollowell pleaded guilty on September 24, 2015, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, a charge stemming from a 2014 trafficking spree across the Eastern District of Texas. The operation, which ran unchecked for months, involved multiple co-conspirators and a steady supply of high-grade meth moving through the region’s back roads and urban corridors.

U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Catharina Haynes handed down the sentence, also ordering Hollowell to forfeit approximately $10,000 in cash and multiple firearms seized during the investigation. The weapons, tied directly to the drug operation, underscore the violent potential that often shadows large-scale narcotics distribution.

The indictment came on March 18, 2015, when a federal grand jury charged Hollowell with drug trafficking crimes following a coordinated probe by federal and local law enforcement. The evidence, laid bare in court documents, detailed a network that treated the Eastern District as a trafficking corridor, exploiting transportation routes and local demand.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Canton Police Department, whose joint efforts dismantled a key node in the regional drug trade. Prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Coan, who emphasized the threat Hollowell’s operation posed to community safety.

Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston confirmed the outcome, stating that federal authorities remain committed to targeting drug traffickers who flood East Texas communities with poison. Hollowell’s sentence sends a message: deal drugs here, and the federal system will come down hard.