A Texas man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy in the Shreveport/Bossier City area.
Donnie Vance Grabener, 64, of Waskom, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote on one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
Grabener was also sentenced to five years of supervised release. According to a guilty plea entered on May 3, 2018, Grabener and his codefendants conspired to sell methamphetamine in the Shreveport/Bossier City area from March 2017 to May 2017.
On May 5, 2017, a Caddo Parish sheriff’s officer stopped a vehicle being driven by Michael Shane Rushton in Bethany, Louisiana. Riding in the vehicle were Thomas Taylor and his wife, Tina Louise Taylor. The officer searched the vehicle and found a box behind the driver’s side seat on the floor filled with paper rags.
In the bottom of the box was a grocery sack with seven clear plastic bags that were later tested to contain approximately 983 grams of methamphetamine.
Upon further investigation, law enforcement agents learned that Grabener sold methamphetamine with his suppliers being Thomas and Tina Taylor.
Thomas Taylor, Tina Taylor, and Rushton pleaded guilty on March 5, 2018, to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Rushton was sentenced on September 17, 2018, to 60 months in prison with three years of supervised release.
Thomas and Tina Taylor were sentenced on August 3, 2018, to 140 months and 120 months in prison, respectively. They were also sentenced to five years of supervised release.
The case was investigated by the DEA and the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiffany E. Fields and Mary J. Mudrick prosecuted the case.
Key Facts
- State: Louisiana
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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