SHREVEPORT, La. –Acting U.S.Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced today that a Texas man and a Shreveport woman pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine.
Rogelio Lopez, 47, of Longview, Texas, and Guadaloupe Ponte, 27, of Shreveport, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. According to the guilty pleas, DEA drug task force agents learned that Ponte was distributing methamphetamine in Shreveport. They recorded her on January 12, 2017 setting up sales and then observed her traveling to meet Lopez. Agents arrested the defendants after they arrived at a hotel in separate vehicles. Agents found 82.9 grams of methamphetamine in Lopez’s car and 326.6 grams of methamphetamine when they later searched his Texas home. Lopez admitted to being Ponte’s supplier of methamphetamine.
The defendants face 10 years to life in prison, at least five years of supervised release and a $10 million fine. The court set a sentencing date of August 8, 2017.
The DEA investigated this case with assistance from Shreveport law enforcement. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Paul Gillespie is prosecuting the case.