Ferriday Man Sentenced to 120 Months in Prison for Transporting Meth

ALEXANDRIA, LA—United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that Marvin L. Thompson, 37, of Ferriday, was sentenced Thursday, December 12, 2013, by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell to 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was also ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. Thompson pleaded guilty July 18, 2013.

According to evidence presented at the guilty plea, Thompson admitted that he conspired with Chavo Thomas, Maurice Smith, and other defendants to deliver methamphetamine from California to Ferriday. Thompson and Thomas traveled to California to purchase and bring back the illegal drugs. The two defendants were arrested on October 28, 2011, at a Brookhaven, Mississippi train station with two pounds of pure methamphetamine. Smith, who had organized the California trip, was arrested later in Ferriday.

Smith and Thomas were sentenced September 27, 2013. Smith received life in prison, and Thomas received 275 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. A jury found Smith and Thomas guilty on May 31, 2013.

The defendants were arrested as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Operation Delta Blues investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation Central Louisiana Safe Streets Task Force, which is composed of the Louisiana State Police, Louisiana Department of Probation and Parole, Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Alexandria Police Department, participated in the investigation. The U.S. Marshals and the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office also participated in the investigation. The Southwest Mississippi Narcotics Task Force, Brookhaven (Mississippi) Police Department and the Lincoln County (Mississippi) Sheriff’s Office assisted in the defendants’ arrest. Assistant U.S. Attorney James G. Cowles, Jr. prosecuted the case.

The OCDETF program is a joint federal, state, and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional level drug trafficking organizations, and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.