United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

WICHITA FALLS MAN SENTENCED TO 9 YEARS
IMPRISONMENT, WITHOUT PAROLE

Defendant Manufactured and Distributed Methamphetamine
in the Wichita Falls, Texas Area

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Ronald Jason Baker 23, of Wichita Falls, Texas, was sentenced today in Dallas by the Honorable Jerry Buchmeyer, United States Senior District Judge, to 108 months imprisonment, without parole, for his part in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine.

In September 2005, a federal grand jury in Dallas returned a one-count superseding indictment charging Baker, along with 10 co-defendants, with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Baker has been in custody since his arrest on in September 2005.

In April 2002, Baker and others began a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine in the Wichita Falls area. During the course of the conspiracy, Baker and others were caught by local authorities with methamphetamine or with supplies, chemicals, and equipment used to manufacture the illicit substance. Further, local authorities learned that Baker and his co-conspirators were distributing what they had manufactured to others for monetary profit. Baker’s co-conspirators are Michael Keith Smith, Shannon Ray Long, Ronald Steve Berry, Frederick William Sturm, Jr., Clinton Ray Goswick, Wendell Floyd Smith, Dustin James Broadhurst, Terry Sheldon Ewing, Phillip Clayton Hincks, and Robert Patrick Shirey.

In documents filed in Court, Baker admitted that he not only sold the drug, but had “cooked,” or manufactured, methamphetamine for co-defendant Shannon Ray Long on ten separate occasions and with another co-defendant on two other occasions.

Defendant Shannon Ray Long, 33, of Iowa Park, Texas, who also pled guilty to his role in the conspiracy, was sentenced in March to 30 years imprisonment. Defendant Clinton Ray Goswick, 46, of Wichita Falls, was convicted by a federal jury in June for his role in the conspiracy and for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The remaining defendants have all pled guilty for their roles in the conspiracy.

United States Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the North Texas Drug Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Tromblay.

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