United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BEAUMONT, Texas - A 31-year-old Houston woman has been sentenced for bringing prohibited drugs into a federal prison in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today. 

Janet Tapia pleaded guilty on Apr. 28, 2015, to attempting to provide heroin to a federal inmate and was sentenced to 49 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark. 

According to information presented in court, in August 2012, while monitoring inmate telephone calls and emails at the U.S. Penitentiary in the Federal Correctional Complex in Beaumont, officials discovered that a federal prisoner, Sultan Adnan Al-Bizri, arranged for Tapia to be supplied with heroin which she would then deliver to Al-Bizri during a regular prison visitation.  On Aug. 6, 2012, federal agents intercepted Tapia arriving at the prison visitation area with two balloons that contained heroin.  Tapia, Al-Bizri, and three others were indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 1, 2014.  

Al-Bizri was sentenced to 55 months in federal prison on June 23, 2015.  Federal inmate Pedro Alejandro Ramirez was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison on May 14, 2015.  Federal inmate Donald James Bratton, Jr., was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison on June 11, 2015, while his father, Donald James Bratton, Sr., received three years federal probation.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Prisons, Special Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall L. Fluke and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell James.