ETX man gets 18-year sentence for drug operation
Posted/updated on: April 19, 2025 at 6:55 am
CHEROKEE COUNTY — An East Texas man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for running a nationwide counterfeit meth-laced pill operation from his rural property in Cherokee County.
According to our news partner KETK, Robert Jessie Martin, 47 of Alto, was sentenced to 18 years and four mounts in prison on Thursday. Martin reportedly distributed five kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and 500 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, according to the evidence presented in court.
As part of the operation, Martin allegedly set up multiple rotary tablet presses on his 75-acre property near Alto, where he produced hundreds of thousands of fake pills lace with meth. These pills were then trafficked across the United States for profit.
In July 2023, federal agents arrested Martin after executing a search warrant on his property. During the search, authorities seized five firearms, five pill presses, 111 grams of meth, along with large quantities of both meth-laced substances and pure methamphetamine.
Following his conviction, Martin’s 75-acre property was forfeited to the federal government as part of the sentence.
