Sean P. Costello U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama
A Mobile man was sentenced on March 2 by Chief United States District Court Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock to 168 months in prison for trafficking nearly six kilograms of methamphetamine.
The sentencing follows a joint interdiction operation conducted by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office at the Greyhound bus station on Government Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. The case highlights ongoing efforts by law enforcement agencies to address drug trafficking in the region.
According to court documents, deputies observed the man, identified as Lawson, exiting the bus terminal with a duffle bag. When he noticed law enforcement officers, he re-entered the station but later exited again. Deputies continued surveillance as Lawson walked down Government Boulevard. When approached by deputies, Lawson ran across two lanes of traffic onto a median before being detained after a brief foot pursuit.
Deputies found six large cellophane-wrapped bundles of what appeared to be methamphetamine in Lawson's duffle bag. After being read his Miranda rights, Lawson told deputies he had traveled from Houston, Texas and purchased the narcotics for himself for $21,000 in cash. Laboratory analysis confirmed that the bundles contained approximately 5,973 grams of methamphetamine with a purity of 97 percent.
The investigation was led by the Gulf of America Homeland Security Task Force and included officers from multiple federal and local agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case.
This prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America—a nationwide initiative aimed at countering illegal immigration and eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations through coordinated efforts among Department of Justice task forces.
United States Attorney Sean P. Costello said that "the Homeland Security Task Forces represent a new gold standard model in law enforcement which combines the expertise of numerous agencies under one roof to maximize the impact on crime and the safety to the community."
