“Operation Long Haul” Major Methamphetamine Trafficker Sentenced to 30 Years

CHARLOTTE, NC—Gretchen C.F. Shappert, United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced today that Antonio Torres Garcia, 40, of Lenoir, North Carolina and originally from Mexico, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Richard L. Voorhees to 30 years in federal prison as a result of his participation in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and his failure to appear in federal court during his trial in November of 2004.

According to court documents and court testimony, Garcia was the lead defendant in a 14—defendant conspiracy indictment returned by the Grand Jury on April 30, 2003. Thirteen of the defendants in the indictment, known as “Operation Long Haul”, pled guilty to their involvement in the alleged methamphetamine conspiracy and related drug and firearms offenses. Garcia proceeded to trial in November of 2004. According to court testimony, Garcia failed to appear for a portion of his trial in federal court in Statesville. Defendant was not present for the jury’s guilty verdict on November 4, 2004. His whereabouts were unknown to law enforcement for over three years. Defendant was subsequently arrested on January 10, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada and returned to the Western District of North Carolina for the disposition of his federal case.

According to trial testimony presented in federal court in Statesville during defendant’s 2004 jury trial, Garcia was a major methamphetamine trafficker, who supplied hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine to individuals, including long distance truck drivers, throughout Burke, Catawba and Alexander Counties. Garcia, according to trial testimony, traveled to Mexico, Tacoma, Washington, and Las Vegas, Nevada in furtherance of his drug distribution operation. Numerous firearms were traded for methamphetamine, according to witnesses at Garcia’s trial.

During yesterday’s sentencing hearing in federal court, a witness testified that Garcia was responsible for distributing hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine between 1998 and 2002 in North Carolina.

U.S. Attorney Shappert, who tried the case before a jury in 2004 and who represented the government at yesterday’s sentencing hearing, described Garcia as a major drug trafficker. “Methamphetamine is one of the most seriously addictive drugs we encounter in federal law enforcement,” said Shappert. “By virtue of Garcia’s extensive and longstanding involvement in the distribution of this deadly drug, he deserves every day of the 30—year sentence imposed by the Court.”

Shappert also expressed her appreciation to the U.S. Marshals who located the fugitive Garcia in 2008 and to Sheriff’s Deputys in Catawba and Alexander Counties who worked the investigation as part of the FBI’s Catawba Valley Task Force. In particular, Shappert praised Detective Chad Pennell of the Alexander County Sheriff’s office. “Detective Pennell was one of the original officers in this case,” said Shappert. “Without his tireless work and dedication, we could not have prosecuted this case successfully.”