Fort Worth woman sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for harboring a fugitive in a massive methamphetamine distribution conspiracy

FORT WORTH, Texas — A Fort Worth woman was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison for harboring a fugitive related to a massive methamphetamine distribution conspiracy.

This sentence was announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.  The following agencies investigated this case:  Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS); Texas Department of Public Safety; and Fort Worth Police Department.

Robie Lynn Sims, 41, pleaded guilty in October 2015 to one count of concealing a person from arrest. On Feb. 8, U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor ordered Sims to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by March 18.

According to the factual resume filed in her case, Sims was the girlfriend of one of the defendants, Billy Bullitt, 45, also of Fort Worth, who, along with 28 co-defendants, was charged in a massive methamphetamine distribution conspiracy recently prosecuted in the Fort Worth Division of the Northern District of Texas.  Bullitt was sentenced in December 2015 to 121 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.

Bullitt had been living at Sims’ residence when, in June 2015, agents/officers with the DEA and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Squad interviewed her at her residence.  She was advised that Bullitt had an outstanding federal arrest warrant for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.  When asked if she knew where Bullitt was currently living, Sims responded that she had last seen him two weeks ago at their residence.  In fact, however, Bullitt had been living at that residence and had fled as agents/officers had approached the residence.  Sims lied about Bullitt’s whereabouts and stalled the agents/officers so Bullitt would have time to flee the residence.  Bullitt was arrested July 2, 2015, by agents/officers with the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Squad at a motel on Bryant Irvin Boulevard in Fort Worth.  Sims was with him and had arranged for another person to rent the room for her and Bullitt to avoid alerting authorities of Bullitt’s location.

A total of 29 defendants were charged in the case; 28 have been convicted, and most of those have been sentenced.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith, Northern District of Texas, was in charge of the prosecution.