LAKE CHARLES, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Lake Charles man and a Texas man pleaded guilty to their roles in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy that stretched from Lake Charles to Houston.
Chumphai Bob Mireles, 52, of Lake Charles, and Michael Wayne Giese, 37, of Pearland, Texas, entered conditional guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with intent to distribute controlled dangerous substances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen Kay. The plea will become final when accepted by U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter. According to evidence presented at the guilty pleas, law enforcement agents identified Mireles and Sandra Smith, 48, of Lake Charles, as traffickers of methamphetamine. Smith told a cooperating witness that Mireles was going to make a purchase in July of 2014 from their supplier. Law enforcement agents followed Mireles to Houston on July 3, 2014, where he bought methamphetamine from Giese. Agents arrested Mireles as he traveled back to Louisiana and located 86.53 grams of methamphetamine inside his vehicle.
Mireles and Giese face up to 10 years to life in prison, at least five years supervised release, and a $10 million fine. Smith pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count June 3, 2015. All three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 19, 2015.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Calcasieu Parish Combined Anti-Drug Task Force conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Abendroth is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
