Feds target 15 in area drug roundup on Wednesday

TYLER - At approximately 9 a.m. on October 3, a combined task force of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies began arresting individuals involved in a drug trafficking criminal enterprise in Longview, Harleton, Gladewater, White Oak and Dallas.

Agents and officers began executing 15 federal arrest warrants.

According to court documents, the defendants were part of a conspiracy to traffic in more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. Since approximately July 2004, the defendants had been conspiring to distribute methamphetamine to others in and around the Longview, Texas area.

On October 2, a federal grand jury returned a 1-count Superseding Indictment charging 15 people with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

The Superseding Indictment followed a lengthy investigation launched by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Gregg County Organized Drug Enforcement Unit (CODE), the Gregg County Sheriff's Office and the Longview Police Department.

The defendants in custody will have an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love in Tyler. If convicted, the defendants face up to life in prison and fines of up to $4 million.

Those named in the Superseding Indictment are Jose Corona Molina, also known as Chispero, 24, of Tyler; Jose Luis Romero Morales, also known as Primo, 26, of Tyler; Tina Raquel Gonzales, also known as Tina Raquel Dudley, 32, of Tyler; Michael Edward Brown, also known as Mike Jones, 33, of Longview; Tonya Janay Houston, also known as TJ, 29, of Longview; Thomas Dale Amburn, also known as Bubba, 29, of Dallas; Ruben Lozano, III, also known as Bubba, 28, of Longview; David Andrew Mc- Neel, also known as Drew, 31, of Longview; Jeremy Joseph Valle, 20, of Longview; April Nicole Jones, 23, of White Oak; Justin Jake Newman, 28, of Harleton; James Bryant Teague, 26, of Longview; Mai Minoie Hernandez, 37, of White Oak; Jamie Brelin Vick, 19, of Longview; and Gary Don Kirkland, also known as