NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that JAMES HATCH, age 50, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced today after pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to traffic 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. United States District Judge Susie Morgan sentenced HATCH to a term of imprisonment of 160 months, followed by five years of supervised release.
HATCH is one of eleven defendants charged in a 23-count federal indictment. Specifically, the indictment alleges that HATCH conspired to sell large quantities of methamphetamine with codefendants Stefen Daigle, Jeffrey Clines, Peter Giandalone, Paul Melancon, Julien Polk, James Hatch, Angel Renee Vidaure, Eulalio Torres-Cadenas, Delio Alfredo Lopez-Lopez, Lindsey Lopez, and Jacob Higginbotham. The indictment also alleges a number of individual acts of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as firearm offenses for codefendants HATCH, Vidaure, and Lopez-Lopez. Law enforcement developed evidence against this group of defendants using controlled purchases of methamphetamine, traffic stops and seizures, consensually recorded text messages and phone calls, search warrants, cooperator information, and self-incriminating statements.
U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, Louisiana State Police, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Highway Patrol, Montgomery County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, AMTRAK Police, and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Brandon S. Long is in charge of the prosecution.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
