The two leaders of a large-scale methamphetamine organization have been sentenced to a combined 400 months in federal prison. Adan Mendoza, 36, of Dallas, Texas, and Brian I. Wilson, 37, of Little Rock, each received 200-month prison sentences — which equals 16 years, eight months — from United States District Judge James M. Moody, Jr. Judge Moody sentenced Mendoza Friday, and Wilson on July 12, 2024.
Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentences.
Wilson and Mendoza were the two lead defendants in a 20-count, nine-defendant indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury on September 8, 2022. Both Wilson and Mendoza pleaded guilty in March 2024 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute methamphetamine.
In their plea agreements, each defendant was held responsible for the distribution of between five to 15 kilograms of methamphetamine, a range which carried a 10-year minimum sentence.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Moody sentenced each defendant to five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
All nine defendants have pleaded guilty in the case. In addition to the sentences handed out to Wilson and Mendoza, Judge Moody sentenced David Chad Lane, 47, of North Little Rock, to 96 months in prison and Samuel L. Johnson, 37, of Little Rock, to 65 months in prison. Judge Moody will sentence the remaining defendants at a later date.
In this case, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began investigating a methamphetamine trafficking ring in central Arkansas in late 2021. The ring was headed locally by Wilson and supplied by Mendoza, out of Dallas.
Wilson acquired methamphetamine from Mendoza in Texas and either personally transported it by car or had associates transport it for him to central Arkansas weekly. Wilson and others then distributed the methamphetamine to numerous people in Arkansas.
On two different occasions, the DEA used a confidential informant to purchase a kilogram of methamphetamine directly from Wilson. Also, in February 2022, the DEA seized approximately five kilograms of methamphetamine and one kilogram of cocaine from Wilson following a traffic stop when Wilson was returning from a trip to Dallas.
Mendoza is also implicated in a separate federal conspiracy in Texas that began in 2019. While the DEA was conducting surveillance on Mendoza in Dallas, agents observed Wilson meeting with him.
During additional surveillance operations in Dallas, DEA agents observed an associate of Wilson (co-defendant Michael Odom) arrive at Mendoza’s house in a Corvette, meet with Mendoza, and then leave with a large bag. Following a high-speed chase with police, local law enforcement eventually arrested Odom and recovered 2.8 kilograms of methamphetamine that Odom received from Mendoza.
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