Waco -- The last two of 34 Aryan Brotherhood associates arrested in after a 10-month investigation into methamphetamine trafficking in Central Texas were sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Waco.
U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith sentenced Chris Voerhis, 51, of Moffat, who’s also known as “Lurch,” to 168 months in prison followed by five years on supervised release.
He sentenced Derrick Cooper, 35, of Temple, who’s also known as “Red,” to 84 months in prison followed by five years on supervised released.
Both defendants, who pleaded guilty on Oct. 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute between 50 grams and 500 grams of methamphetamine, were also fined $1,000.
"These sentences resulted from unprecedented collaboration of federal, state, and local law enforcement targeting a large-scale prison gang involved in violent organized crime over three counties in Central Texas," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs.
The investigation, dubbed “Operation La Flama Blanca, “inflicted a debilitating blow to the network of shadow and often violent facilitators of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas," said Joseph M. Arabit, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration--Houston Field Division.
"This operation highlights a deliberate and strategic effort to cut off and shut down the supply of methamphetamine trafficked by the Aryan Brotherhood and the corresponding impact that this horrific drug inflicts on our communities."
To date, investigators have seized about nine pounds of crystal meth, 15 firearms, more than $9,000 in cash and other assets.
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