This article was originally published in The Examiner on Dec. 21, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
A Houston man was sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston said in a news release Dec. 18.
Christopher Wade Ferrell, 45, pled guilty on May 18 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to 327 months, over 27 years, in federal prison Dec. 15 by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies received a tip March 11, 2016 about a large shipment of methamphetamine headed to Beaumont for further distribution, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Southeast Texas law enforcement were following the suspects’ vehicle when the driver started driving erratically. Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies turned on lights and sirens to pull the car over.
Ferrell, who was driving the car, pulled into a parking lot then drove off when officers approached the car. Then Ferrell led officers on a chase, committing several traffic violations, deputies said, until he crashed into a privacy fence and ran away on foot.
Officers took Ferrell into custody several houses away from where he crashed. The passengers stayed in the car, and officers smelled marijuana coming from the car as they approached.
When law enforcement searched the car, they found about one ounce of marijuana, various pills in one passenger’s purse, about 10 grams of suspected methamphetamine in a woman’s jacket pocket and about 11 ounces of suspected methamphetamine inside a white plastic grocery bag in the back seat of the car.
A federal grand jury indicted Ferrell Nov. 2, 2016.
Eleanor Skelton 