A Haughton man was sentenced Tuesday to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm.
Donnie Vance Grabener, 64, of Waskom, Texas, was sentenced on one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of felon in possession of a firearm. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release. According to the May 3, 2018 guilty plea, Grabener and codefendants Thomas Taylor, 65, of Dallas, Texas; Tina Louise Taylor, 43, of Dallas, Texas; and Michael Shane Rushton, 33, of Bossier City, Louisiana, conspired to sell methamphetamine in the Shreveport/Bossier City area from March 2017 to May 2017. A Caddo Parish sheriff’s officer stopped a vehicle Rushton was driving on May 5, 2017 in Bethany, Louisiana. Riding in the vehicle were husband and wife Thomas and Tina Taylor. The officer searched the vehicle and found a box behind the driver’s side seat on the floor filled with paper rags. In the bottom of the box was a grocery sack with seven clear plastic bags that were later tested to contain approximately 983 grams of methamphetamine. Upon further investigation, law enforcement agents learned that Grabener sold methamphetamine with his suppliers being Thomas and Tina Taylor.
Thomas Taylor, Tina Taylor and Rushton pleaded guilty March 5, 2018 to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Rushton was sentenced September 17, 2018 to 60 months in prison with three years of supervised release. Thomas and Tina Taylor were sentenced on August 3, 2018 to 140 months and 120 months in prison respectively. They were also sentenced to five years of supervised release.