Last of 3 sentenced in southeast Texas to nearly 6 years in federal prison for methamphetamine trafficking

VICTORIA, Texas —The final defendant in a three-defendant methamphetamine conspiracy was ordered Tuesday to federal prison for nearly six years, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Victoria Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety.

Michael Gregory Oertli, 40, of Brookshire, Texas, pleaded guilty in November 2014 to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. On May 12, U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey sentenced Oertli to 70 months imprisonment to be followed by four years of supervised release.

Howard Gene Hicks, 46, and Kathrine Dovey Sexton, 38, both of Port Lavaca, Texas, also pleaded guilty in November 2014 to the same charge. Judge Rainey ordered Hicks to serve 60 months imprisonment; Sexton was sentenced to a 63-month term. Both sentences will also be followed by four years of supervised release.

The defendants traveled to Sexton’s source of supply in Houston and then distributed the drugs in the Victoria/Port Lavaca area. Hicks and Oertli were charged following a traffic stop in which they were found with methamphetamine. This investigation later identified Sexton, and discovered that the group traveled to Houston several times per week and returned with about two ounces of methamphetamine on each occasion.

All have been in custody since their arrests where they remain pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Watt, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.