Wilbarger County Man Sentenced To 40 Years In Federal Prison On Methamphetamine Conviction

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — A Wilbarger County man, who possessed methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor to a lengthy federal prison term, announced John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Benny Dennis, 54, of Electra, Texas, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison at a sentencing hearing held yesterday in federal court in Wichita Falls, Texas. Dennis pleaded guilty on September 30, 2014, to one count of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of five grams or more or methamphetamine.

According to documents filed in the case, on March 6, 2014, at the direction of law enforcement, an individual called Dennis to set up a meeting to pay for methamphetamine that Dennis had “fronted” him and to obtain additional methamphetamine from Dennis. The two met at a house on North Wilbarger Street in Electra. During the meeting, the individual paid Dennis $1,500 cash for one ounce of methamphetamine that Dennis had “fronted” him a few days earlier, and Dennis agreed to “front” the individual an additional ounce of methamphetamine. Dennis advised he had to go to a house on East Lincoln Street in Electra to get the methamphetamine. The individual and Dennis travelled separately to that location and met there a little while later. Dennis gave the individual a clear plastic bag of a clear, crystal-like substance. That substance, which was later tested by a Texas Department of Public Safety laboratory, was, in fact, 27.98 net grams of methamphetamine and had a purity level of 95%, which exceeds five actual grams of methamphetamine.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, the Wichita County District Attorney’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Walters prosecuted.