Eastern District continues to crack down on drug trafficking
staff reports
A Terrell man was sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas.
Cory Joe Phillips, 39, pleaded guilty on March 8, 2021, to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of methamphetamine. Phillips was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker.
“We thank our law enforcement partners for their diligence in investigating drug trafficking crimes and protecting the public from those who deal illicit substances,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “Drug traffickers in the Eastern District of Texas will not escape justice.”
Sherman woman gets 2 years in fed prison for conspiracy scheme with Houston partner
Eastern District of Texas
Two Texas women have each been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for conspiracy charges in the Eastern District of Texas.
Pamela Sue Hannan, 68, of Sherman, and Pamela Sue Jennings, 69, of Houston, pleaded guilty on August 6, 2020, to conspiring with foreign co-conspirators to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and were sentenced to 24 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker.
“Today’s sentences send a clear message that schemes targeting elderly victims will not be tolerated, and those facilitating such schemes will be held accountable,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “By acting as domestic money transmitters for foreign co-conspirators, these defendants played fundamental roles that allowed foreign actors to reach from overseas to target elderly victims in communities across the United States.
(Tami Chappell/Reuters)
Our Brittany Bernstein reports that a federal district judge in Washington, D.C., has invalidated the eviction moratorium ordered by the Centers for Disease Control, initially during the Trump administration, and recently extended (for the second time) during the Biden administration. It is now set to run through June 30.
In her 20-page opinion, Judge Dabney L. Friedrich (a Trump appointee) observes that hers is only the most recent of several rulings holding that the CDC exceeded its statutory authority (two district court decisions go the other way, at least at the preliminary injunction stage).
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As Brittany points out, the issue before Judge Friedrich was statutory, viz., whether the CDC exceeded the authority given it by Congress to make rules to combat the spread of communicable disease. Judge Friedrich persuasively reasons that Congress empowered the agency to prescribe conditions related to “specific targets” basically, objects o