Two Denton men who admitted trafficking methamphetamine in the region were hit with lengthy federal prison terms this week. Clayton Willis Caddell, 48, was ordered to serve 181 months in prison and Robert Alfonso Cazarin, 37, received 156 months. U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan handed down both sentences last Friday in the Eastern District of Texas after prosecutors said the pair conspired with others to distribute meth beginning in 2022.
The sentences were announced in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Texas. According to that release, the cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Johnson and investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Denton County Sheriff’s Office.
Charges and court details
According to local coverage, Caddell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, while Cazarin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth reported that both men admitted their roles in a scheme prosecutors say stretched back to at least 2022. Sentences in federal drug cases are shaped by statutory penalties and the federal sentencing guidelines, which help determine how much time defendants serve after guilty pleas like these.
Linked to a Homeland Security Task Force
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force, or HSTF, initiative established under Executive Order 14159, which directs interagency coordination against cartels, transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling. The executive order, titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” sets out the HSTF mandate and enforcement priorities. The White House has published the full text of the order.
What this means locally
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District have announced several high value meth sentences in recent days, a signal of intensified enforcement across East Texas. In a separate case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said a Port Arthur man was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison on January 6 for trafficking methamphetamine. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Texas said that case was investigated by the DEA and local police…