Two Texas Sources of ICE Methamphetamine Sentenced

Abingdon, VIRGINIA – Two Texas sources of ICE methamphetamine—who supplied a local conspiracy with large quantities of the drug for multiple years—have been sentenced in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced today.

Today in District Court, Angel Soliz Jr., 37, Angel Soliz Sr., 57, both of Houston, Texas, both who previously pled guilty to a lesser-included count of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, were sentenced in District Court.

Soliz Jr. was sentenced today to 240 months in federal prison. Also today in District Court, Soliz Sr. was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison. As part of his previously entered guilty plea, Soliz Jr. agreed to forfeit more than $800,000 which was seized from his home in Texas.

According to evidence presented by prosecutors, the defendants admitted to being the source of much of the ICE methamphetamine that was sold in a multi-defendant conspiracy and which has resulted in more than a dozen federal convictions in U.S. District Court in Abingdon.  Soliz Sr. and Soliz Jr. coordinated the supply of methamphetamine from Texas, while other co-defendants worked under them to help distribute the drugs.  During the course of the conspiracy, various persons from Eastern Kentucky and Southwest Virginia would traveled to Texas to purchase methamphetamine and subsequently transport it back via interstate highways, avoiding law enforcement detection along the way.  Once the ICE methamphetamine had arrived in Kentucky and Virginia, it would be distributed to others.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; United States Drug Enforcement Administration; Virginia State Police; Kentucky State Police; Harris County, Texas Sherriff’s Office; and Russell County, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.  Special Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Jayne and Special Assistant United States Attorney and Russell County Commonwealth Attorney Brian Patton prosecuted the case for the United States.