DALLAS — A Dallas woman who, along with 18 co-defendants, was arrested in June 2016 in a joint operation led by the Dallas Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety, for their respective roles in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy that operated out of the Pleasant Grove, Seagoville, and Balch Springs areas of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, was sentenced today, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Tina Connolly, 55, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to 240 months in federal prison. She pleaded guilty in October 2016 to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. She has been in custody since her arrest in June.
According to documents filed in the case, Connolly admitted that on January 19, 2016, when law enforcement executed a search warrant for the hotel room where she was staying, officers located and seized distribution quantities of methamphetamine – approximately 298 grams, marijuana, heroin, and a firearm.
All of the 19 defendants indicted in the case have pleaded guilty to their respective roles in the conspiracy. Connolly is the first defendant to be sentenced in the case.
The investigation into this drug trafficking organization began in early January 2016. During the investigation, law enforcement seized more than 6700 grams of methamphetamine, approximately 13.2 kilograms of methamphetamine oil, 62 grams of marijuana, 2.5 grams of heroin, and 20 ml of gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), as well as 12 firearms and $12,379 in cash.
The case was investigated by the Dallas Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Wirmani is in charge of the prosecution.
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