WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Three defendants, who pleaded guilty to their respective roles in a major methamphetamine distribution conspiracy that operated in Wichita Falls, were sentenced on Friday, in federal court in Wichita Falls, by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.
Randall Wayne Ezzell, 46, was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison; Jason Alan Haney, aka “A.J. Haney," 27, was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison; and Troy Radford, 36, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.
These are the first sentencings in this case in which 28 of the 30 defendants charged in the conspiracy have entered guilty pleas and will be sentenced during the next few months. The cases against two of the defendants have not been resolved. All 30 of the defendants who have been charged in the superseding indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury in October 2012, are in custody.
According to documents filed in the case, Ezell admitted that on multiple occasions in 2011, he manufactured, or cooked, anhydrous methamphetamine for co-conspirator Steve Ysasaga. Ysasaga supplied the pseudoephedrine tablets, a necessary ingredient to manufacture methamphetamine, and Ezzell obtained the rest of the ingredients necessary to manufacture the methamphetamine. Each “cook" involved a minimum of 20 boxes of pseudoephedrine and yielded approximately 40 grams of methamphetamine.
In addition, according to documents filed in the case, when a state narcotics search warrant was executed on December 5, 2011, at 12570 FM 171 in Wichita Falls, Ezzell and co-conspirators James Allen Stafford and Diana Gail Hassell were present on the property when agents discovered a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in operation.
Haney, whose primary role in the drug distribution conspiracy was as an enforcer, admitted that he accompanied Ysasaga to assist him in collecting a drug debt from a debtor by use of violence and intimidation. Haney also admitted that on numerous occasions in 2011, he received one-to two-ounce quantities of methamphetamine from Ysasaga and that he received at least 12 ounces of methamphetamine from Ysasaga. He admitted that he sold methamphetamine to customers, including co-conspirator Dewel Wells, in Wichita Falls.
Radford admitted that on numerous occasions between May and September 2012, he distributed quantities of methamphetamine to, and received payments for, methamphetamine from customers in the Wichita Falls area.
This Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Wichita Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary F. Walters is in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
