A Texas man was sentenced Tuesday to life imprisonment on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute meth in West Tennessee.
According to U.S. Attorney for West Tennessee Michael Dunavant’s office. 58-year-old Rolando Lopez, of Rio Grande, Texas, and other conspirators were trafficking in meth, heroin, marijuana, and other illegal substances from Mexico to Tennessee.
After a months-long investigation using wiretaps, DEA agents learned a shipment of liquid meth was being transported from Arkansas through Tennessee, and arranged for the THP to stop the shipment on Highway 51, in Obion County.
Lopez used other co-conspirators’ property in West Tennessee to convert the liquid meth into a powdery substance. Lopez was held responsible for distributing over 2.6 million kilograms of meth within Tennessee. The United States argued that this was the largest drug trafficking organization known to be handled within the Western District.
The case was investigated by the Nashville, Jackson, Atlanta DEA offices, TBI, 23rd Judicial Drug Task Force, Metro Nashville Police Department, Perry County Sheriff’s Office, THP, Lawrenceburg Police Department, ATF, Jackson Police Department, Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, and Obion County Sheriff’s Office.
