United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

TARRANT COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 19 YEARS
IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE, FOR METH DISTRIBUTION

FORT WORTH, Texas – Manuel Flores, 39, of North Richland Hills, Texas, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge John McBryde to 230 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Flores pled guilty in August to an indictment charging possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. He has been in custody since his arrest on May 31, 2007, on charges in a criminal complaint.

According to documents filed in Court, on May 30, 2007, a confidential informant notified an officer with the Fort Worth Police Department that Flores was selling methamphetamine from a hotel room in North Richland Hills, Texas. That day, shortly after Flores left the hotel’s parking lot driving his pickup truck, he was arrested for failing to stop at a stop sign. When officers searched Flores, incident to the arrest, they found more than $3800 in his pants pocket. Shortly thereafter, officers searched his hotel room, pursuant to a state search warrant, and seized approximately 375.8 grams of methamphetamine, a digital scale, a loaded semiautomatic pistol and two pages of notes that apparently related to drug sales.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Fort Worth Police Department, the North Richland Hills Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan M. Buie.

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