The final two players in a long-running ICE methamphetamine pipeline from Texas to Appalachia have been locked up, closing a chapter on one of Southwest Virginia’s most persistent drug conspiracies. Ronald Sizemore, 56, of Kentucky, and Ysidro Juarez III, 53, of Houston, Texas, were sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Abingdon after admitting their roles in flooding local streets with high-purity meth for years.
Sizemore, who pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute ICE methamphetamine, received 70 months behind bars. Juarez, who entered a plea to a lesser included count of the same charge, was handed an 84-month sentence. Both men stood silent during sentencing, their fates sealed by evidence and cooperation from higher-level conspirators.
The hammer came down earlier on the ringleaders: Angel Soliz Jr., 37, and Angel Soliz Sr., 53, both of Houston, each received 240-month federal prison terms. Soliz Jr. also forfeited more than $800,000 in cash seized from his Texas home — a stark symbol of the profits fueling the operation. Another co-conspirator, Bige Maggard, was sentenced to 30 months.
According to prosecutors, the conspiracy operated for years, with the Solizes coordinating bulk shipments of ICE meth from Texas. Couriers from Eastern Kentucky and Southwest Virginia would drive south, pick up multi-kilo loads, and haul them back across state lines using back roads and interstate highways, dodging law enforcement en route. Once in Virginia and Kentucky, the drugs flowed through local networks, with Sizemore acting as a key distributor.
The investigation spanned multiple states and agencies. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Virginia and Kentucky State Police, Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Texas, and the Russell County, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office all played critical roles in dismantling the ring. The case exposed the deep infrastructure behind rural drug epidemics.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Jayne and Brian Patton, also Russell County’s Commonwealth Attorney, prosecuted the case. With all defendants now sentenced, federal authorities say the takedown marks a major disruption in the flow of ICE meth through Central Appalachia — a region ravaged by addiction and overdose. The seized cash and long sentences are meant as a warning: no link in the chain is safe from federal justice.
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Related Federal Cases
- Texas Meth Kingpins Soliz Sr., Jr. Get 20 Years · Kentucky
- Kentucky Man George Bowling Pleads Guilty to Meth Conspiracy · Kentucky
- Clintwood Man Pleads Guilty to Cockfighting Conspiracy · Kentucky
- Tracie Cartwright Sentenced in Meth Conspiracy · Kentucky
- Five Sentenced in Southwest VA Meth Conspiracy · Kentucky
Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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