More Defendants Sentenced For Roles In Methamphetamine Conspiracy

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Three defendants, who pleaded guilty to their respective roles in a major methamphetamine distribution conspiracy that operated in Wichita Falls, were sentenced today, in federal court in Wichita Falls, by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

William Corey Peeler, 33, was sentenced to 162 months in federal prison; Cleveland Wilson, 52, was sentenced to 160 months in federal prison; and Nancy Arlene Freeman, 39, was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison.

Peeler and Wilson each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute and to possess with intent to manufacture and to manufacture methamphetamine. Freeman pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

This is the second group of convicted defendants to be sentenced in this case in which 28 of the 30 defendants charged in the conspiracy have entered guilty pleas. Late last month, Randall Wayne Ezzell, 46, was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison; Jason Alan Haney, aka “A.J. Haney,” 27, was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison; and Troy Radford, 36, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. The cases against two of the defendants have not been resolved. All 30 of the defendants charged in the superseding indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury in October 2012, are in custody.

According to documents filed in the case, Peeler admitted that on numerous occasions between August 2011 and September 4, 2012, he sold quantities of methamphetamine, which defendant Steve Ysasaga supplied, to customers in the Wichita Falls area. On one occasion, according to Peeler, Ysasaga brought nine ounces of methamphetamine, a digital scale and small plastic bags to Peeler’s apartment where Ysasaga weighed and repackaged it. Ysasaga gave Peeler one gram of the methamphetamine for allowing him to use his apartment. Peeler also admitted that on various occasions during the conspiracy he accompanied Ysasaga to assist him in collecting drug debts by intimidating the debtors.

Wilson admitted that on multiple occasions between August 2011 and August 2012, he manufactured, or cooked, anhydrous methamphetamine for Ysasaga. Ysasaga supplied the pseudoephedrine tablets and Wilson obtained the rest of the necessary ingredients to manufacture the methamphetamine.

When officers with the Wichita Falls Police Department executed a traffic stop on Freeman’s vehicle in a convenience store parking lot on May 8, 2012, a drug-detecting canine alerted to the presence of narcotics on a backpack that she had placed in the back seat. Officers search the backpack and located 10 small plastic bags containing methamphetamine and two digital scales. She admitted that she possessed the methamphetamine to distribute it at a later time.

This Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Wichita Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary F. Walters is in charge of the prosecution.