Federal Court Busy with Cold Pill Cases
Posted/updated on: March 3, 2011 at 1:13 pm
TYLER — Several sentences were handed down Tuesday and Wednesday in Tyler in federal cases involving methamphetamine-related cold pill purchases. All the defendants pleaded guilty to possession of pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine.
The defendants include two Kilgore men sentenced Wednesday. Larry Don Howell, 30, pleaded guilty on Sep. 1, 2010, and was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison. Calvin Lee Sickler, 28, pleaded guilty on Aug. 6, 2010, and drew a 51-month prison sentence. According to prosecutors, on Apr. 17, 2009, Howell purchased cold pills containing pseudoephedrine at a Wal-Mart in Kilgore, in addition to making several other purchases up until Nov. 3, 2009. Sickler admitted to purchasing cold pills containing pseudoephedrine at various stores in Longview, Kilgore, Henderson, and Tyler between September 2009 and March 2010. A federal grand jury returned a 273-count indictment on May 6, 2010 charging Howell, Sickler, and four others with federal drug violations.
44-year-old Brett Everett Myers of Tyler pleaded guilty on Sept. 7, 2010, and was sentenced Tuesday to 57 months in federal prison. According to information presented in court, on Dec. 22, 2008, Myers purchased cold pills containing pseudoephedrine at a Drug Emporium in Longview. A federal grand jury returned a 256-count indicted on Feb. 2, 2010 charging Myers and several others with federal drug violations.
26-year-old Brandi Nicole Cochran of Beckville was also sentenced Tuesday, getting 37 months behind bars. She’d pleaded guilty September 7 after purchasing cold pills containing pseudoephedrine at a Drug Emporium store in Longview on April 10, 2009. A federal grand jury returned an indictment on Apr. 8, 2010, charging Cochran and others with federal drug violations.
