Pembroke Woman Pleads Guilty to Participating in Methamphetamine Trafficking Conspiracy

            CONCORD - Katie Jo Waters, 29, of Pembroke, pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced today.

             According to court documents and statements made in court, between January 2018 and May 2018, Waters received multiple packages of methamphetamine mailed by persons in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Over the same period, to pay for the drugs, Waters made 11 separate money transfers, totaling $18,700, to suppliers in Las Vegas.  Postal Inspectors intercepted two of the mailed packages destined for the defendant’s address and seized a total of more than one pound of nearly pure methamphetamine.  On April 11, 2018, a New Hampshire State Trooper stopped Waters and another individual in Canterbury, New Hampshire, and eventually seized more than 38 grams of methamphetamine and a Sig Sauer 9 mm. pistol from the car she was driving.  Defendant Waters was arrested on federal charges on May 9, 2018.           

            Waters pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, methamphetamine.  She is scheduled to be sentenced on October 31, 2018.

            “Even as we struggle with the opioid crisis, methamphetamine poses an increasing threat to the citizens of New Hampshire,” said U.S. Attorney Murray.  “This dangerous drug can cause damage to those who use it and it also creates substantial public safety concerns.  I am grateful for the efforts of the law enforcement officers who worked together on this case to stop this defendant’s drug trafficking activities.”

            “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service will continue to conduct investigations with our counterparts to combat drug trafficking and to send a clear message that the use of the U.S. Mail to facilitate drug trafficking will not be tolerated,” said Acting Inspector in Charge, Delany De Leon-Colon, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division.

            “DEA is committed to bringing to justice those that distribute methamphetamine,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle.  “DEA and its local, state and federal law enforcement partners will do everything in our power to keep this highly addictive drug off the streets of New Hampshire.”

            This matter was investigated by the DEA, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the New Hampshire State Police.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John S. Davis and Shane B. Kelbley.

            This case was supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).  The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.  

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