Jefferson Man Sentenced for Drug Crimes

MARSHALL � A 35-year-old Jefferson man has been sentenced to federal prison for drug violations in the Eastern District of Texas. Travis Earl Shelton pleaded guilty on August 17 to possession of pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison on Monday by U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

According to information presented in court, on July 20, 2009, Shelton purchased cold pills containing pseudoephedrine at a Walgreens in Marshall in addition to making two other purchases that same day at other stores in the area, all in furtherance of his methamphetamine manufacturing activities.

Shelton was one of nearly four dozen persons indicted by a federal grand jury in Tyler in early May. They were charged with involvement in a methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution criminal enterprise in the Panola, Rusk, Gregg, Upshur, Marion, and Cherokee Counties. The indictments charged the defendants, cumulatively, with over 2000 counts of federal drug violations. The indictments resulted from a lengthy investigation launched by the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Panola County Sheriff’s Department, the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department, the Gilmer Police Department, the Rusk County Sheriff’s Department, the Henderson Police Department, the Gregg County CODE Unit, the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, the Jefferson Police Department, Cherokee County Precinct 4 Constable Office, and the New Summerfield Police Department.