Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Two admitted methamphetamine addicts were sentenced to federal prison Thursday for selling the drugs in East Texas.

A 28-year-old Louisiana man was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison for his involvement in a meth distribution conspiracy that spanned north and east Texas and west Louisiana.

Timothy Cooper, of Zwolle, La., was charged with 12 others in a 14-count indictment alleging conspiring to possess and distribute meth from 2005 through 2007.

Cooper pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider, who also recommended he undergo drug treatment while in prison.

Cooper, who worked as an environmental driller, apologized to the judge and his family for making the wrong decisions. He said he got involved with the wrong people and has lost a lot of time with his family and his newborn son, who he has not gotten to hold.

Defense attorney Brent Gimble said although his client was on probation at the time of the offense, it was all part of the same conspiracy. He said Cooper was not a professional seller of drugs; he was a user who began to sell meth to support his addiction.

According to the indictment, Cooper talked to a confidential informant on the phone on April 23, 2007, and set up a drug deal. On Aug. 16, 2007, Cooper bought meth from a confidential informant in Louisiana and agreed to pay him the rest of what he owed when he sold the drugs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Ann Cozby prosecuted the case.

A 44-year-old Longview woman was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for selling meth.

Janice Marie Burton pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute 29 grams of meth on Nov. 15, 2006.

She was initially charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 grams or more of meth, from the summer of 2005 through Feb. 12, 2007, along with two men from Longview.

In Schneider's court, Ms. Burton explained why she did not appear to a plea hearing earlier this year. She said she learned her granddaughter was undergoing heart surgery and she panicked, thinking it may be the last time she would see her. She said she knew she would be incarcerated after her guilty plea and she intended to turn herself in as soon as she knew her granddaughter would be OK. She said she told her probation officer about it. Ms. Burton was arrested outside of her home in Longview when she returned to town.

A probation officer said they were never told by Ms. Burton about the child's surgery.

Crying, Ms. Burton apologized to the court and her family for the wrong choices she's made. She said her family, who sat in the courtroom, didn't speak to her or allow her around her grandchildren for more than three years because of her addictions. While she was out on bond, she regained custody of one of her sons and for the first time, began going to drug and alcohol counseling.

Ms. Burton said she began drinking when she was 15 and has been addicted to alcohol on and off since then. She has also been addicted to pain killers and is now addicted to meth, she said, vowing to never use any of them again. She asked the judge not to send her away for a long time.

Schneider recommended that she participate in a substance abuse program in prison.

According to court documents, Ms. Burton left a Longview home and was stopped by police. Drug dogs were called out and alerted on her vehicle; the officer then searched it and found a bag of pills near the console and meth and pills in her purse.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Middleton prosecuted the case while defense attorney Matt Flanery represented Ms. Burton.