Five Members Of Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that five members of a drug conspiracy were sentenced for federal crimes arising from the distribution of methamphetamine in the Holdenville area.

On April 30, 2024, Winston Levert Hanks, Jr., age 44, of Holdenville, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of Drug Conspiracy.  On March 13, 2025, he was sentenced to 324 months in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.

On April 10, 2024, Christian Eugene Dewayne Duckworth, age 24, of Holdenville, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of Money Laundering Conspiracy. On February 11, 2025, Duckworth was sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years supervised release.

On April 10, 2024, Zechariah Odie Hanks, age 42, of Holdenville, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of Drug Conspiracy.  On February 11, 2025, he was sentenced to 210 months in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.

On April 10, 2024, Jolene Rogers a/k/a Jolene Copeland, age 47, of Holdenville, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to one count of Drug Conspiracy.  On February 11, 2025, Rogers was sentenced to 70 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.

On May 1, 2024, Alberto Rafael Mendez Lizarraga, age 35, of El Centro, California, pleaded guilty to one count of Misprision of a Felony.  On March 13, 2025, Mendez Lizarraga was sentenced to 24 months in prison, to be followed by 1 year supervised release.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Oklahoma Bureau Narcotics, the United States Postal Service Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and the United States Marshals Service.

According to investigators, beginning in November 2022 and continuing through October 2023, the defendants conspired to acquire and distribute large amounts of methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.

In February 2023, U.S. Postal Inspectors intercepted a parcel containing approximately 1.6 kilograms of methamphetamine addressed to a residence in Holdenville, Oklahoma.

This initial parcel was followed by five more shipments.  Between February 2023 and July 2023, U.S. Postal Inspectors documented six parcel drops, tracked the parcel deliveries to Oklahoma co-conspirators, and documented defendants’ activities after delivery of the parcels.

For each shipment, Winston Hanks Jr. first ordered large quantities of methamphetamine from a supplier in Mexico.  In turn, Zechariah Hanks and Christian Duckworth transferred U.S. currency through wire services to the supplier completing the purchase for delivery of product.  From that point, Lizarraga and others then shipped parcels from Calexico and El Centro, California, through the U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, complete with a unique identifying tracker, to addresses in Holdenville, Oklahoma.  Once the parcels reached their destination addresses, Rogers, Duckworth, and others retrieved the parcels and delivered them to Winston Hanks.

When law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on Winston Hanks on July 17, 2023, he was in possession of multiple firearms.

“Today, we take a significant step in our ongoing fight against the distribution of illegal drugs in our communities with the sentencing of these five defendants, who exploited the U.S. mail system to facilitate their criminal activities in Oklahoma,” said Kai Pickens, Inspector In-Charge, Fort Worth Division.  “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate the use of our nation's postal service for illegal purposes.  We are committed to protecting public safety and holding accountable those who threaten it.”

“Investigations such as this cannot be successful without DEA McAlester’s relationship with numerous law enforcement partners in Eastern Oklahoma,” said Eduardo A. Chávez, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Dallas Field Division.  “Drugs and those who distribute them have no place in our neighborhoods.  The DEA will never waver in our resolve to identify and hold those responsible for their actions.”

“I cannot overstate the critical nature of these collaborative investigations with our federal and local law enforcement partners,” stated OBN Director Donnie Anderson.  “The defendants in this case are directly tied to drug trafficking organizations responsible for pouring meth into our state and devastating rural communities due to meth-related crime, addiction, and overdose deaths.   My agency is committed to targeting organized crime that threatens the safety of our citizens.”

“Identifying and dismantling drug trafficking organizations remains a priority of the United States Attorney’s Office, and this case is a prime example of the impact cooperative law enforcement can have in combatting the distribution of illegal narcotics,” said United States Attorney Christopher J. Wilson.

The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearings.  The defendants will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard J. Lorenz and Patrick M. Flanigan represented the United States.