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Former teacher sentenced in 2007 meth bust
By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published July 3, 2009
A final chapter was written this week in a multi-agency drug task force operation that cleared Lamar County roads and streets of some of the most active methamphetamine dealers of this decade.
The massive arrest roundup in the summer of 2007 also seized many pounds of drugs, dozens of weapons and one vehicle. Law enforcement agencies involved in the operation included the Lamar County District Attorney’s office, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, Paris Police Department narcotics officers, Lamar County Sheriff’s narcotics officers, federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents and the U.S. Attorney’s office.
In all, 28 people were arrested in the roundup. Of those, 17 were placed in federal custody.
Now, almost two years later, the last of those in federal custody have been sentenced. Former North Lamar Independent School District teacher David Mark Hardy, called “one of the biggest players” by law enforcement agents, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison this week in a hearing held in the federal courthouse in Mount Pleasant.
The sweep was one of the largest ever in Lamar County and took off the streets several pounds of methamphetamine, worth more than $12,000 per pound.
“This definitely opens up other people’s eyes that are out there dealing drugs,” Anson Amis, Lamar County Sheriff’s narcotics squad officer said. “For a time, it definitely takes a lot of drugs and people off the streets, and it makes a big impact on those who would take their place.”
Of the 17 people charged, 16 pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from three months to the 30 years handed down to Hardy.
Among those sentenced to federal prison were Brian Stephen Spann, 137 months; Brian Frazier, 60 months; Tony Edward Flatt, 76 months; Jason Lloyd Thornton, 60 months; Quenton Huskins, 120 months; Talbert Dean Long, three months; Chet Thomas Mauldin, 120 months; Justin Kyle Foster, 70 months; Brittany Juanita Ingram, 51 months; Bridgett Kay Johnson, 70 months; Anthony David Maroney, 60 months; Jimmy Larry Mills, 60 months; David Ryan Robison, 168 months; Wesley Snider, 37 months; Robert Gene Williams, 75 months; Tracy Lawson Brown, 35 months, and Trey Gravan Harvey, 60 months.
In addition, all of those sentenced were ordered to five years of supervised release once they leave the federal prison system.
Only Hardy went to trial. A jury found him guilty in a four-day trial in November 2008.
During the original investigation, undercover operations were conducted, which led to the arrests of almost 100 people involved in drug cases locally. Prior to their arrests in that sweep, five of the suspects already had served time on state felony drug convictions.
In the methamphetamine arrest sweep, officers also made arrests on two cocaine charges.
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