A U.S. district court is sending a 45-year-old Corpus Christi man to federal prison after he was found to possess almost 53 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute it, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced on Wednesday.
Jose Humberto Morales pleaded guilty to the charge on Oct. 24, 2024, in the Southern District of Texas.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ordered Morales to serve 130 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas.
At the hearing, the court considered additional evidence of Morales’ lengthy criminal history dating to 1996 and including more than 10 state convictions for burglary, the news release said.
The court also noted the “serious and recidivist nature of his criminal behavior” in handing down the sentence, it said.
On May 5, 2023, Corpus Christi police officers saw Morales outside of a residence on Richard Street in Corpus Christi, federal court records show. The officers knew Morales, and they were aware that he had an active warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court.
As the officers were arresting him for that warrant, they found three clear baggies in his back left pants pocket that contained meth, the records show. They also found a clear cylinder glass pipe in his front left pants pocket.
The substance later tested positive for meth at the Drug Enforcement Administration South Central Laboratory, and Morales was confirmed to have possessed more than 52 grams.
He was recorded on a call later in the Nueces County Jail admitting that he intended to distribute the drug.
The district court filed an indictment on May 8, 2024, and Morales was arrested without bond.
He will stay in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future, the news release said.
Homeland Security Investigations, along with the Corpus Christi Police Department, investigated the case.
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