United States Drug Enforcement Administration

HOUSTON - A native of Louisiana has been ordered to federal prison following his conviction of possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Will Glaspy, Houston Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez.
John Jacob Lavergne, 39, pleaded guilty July 13, 2016.

Today, U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas ordered Lavergne to federal prison for a total of 420 months. In handing down the sentence, Judge Atlas described this as the largest methamphetamine trafficking case she had seen in her 20 years on the bench. Lavergne was held responsible for trafficking 16 kilograms of ice, a crystallized and very pure form of methamphetamine. 

Lavergne was arrested Sept. 11, 2015, after a long-term drug trafficking investigation known as “Operation Meth Highway.” During the course of this investigation, law enforcement discovered Lavergne was buying large quantities of methamphetamine from suppliers in Houston and transporting them to retail distributors in Louisiana for sale.

Authorities also uncovered several instances in which he threatened to use violence to further his drug trafficking. On one occasion, Lavergne threatened to take revenge on a retail distributor for a drug debt she owed. In another instance, he had plotted to rob and shoot another trafficker delivering a two-kilogram load of ice. Law enforcement intervened to prevent the violence.

Lavergne was also arrested during the course of the investigation on two different occasions with firearms. He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Operation Meth Highway was a collaborative effort of various law enforcement partners in Texas and Louisiana. Among those were the Drug Enforcement Administration in Houston and Lafayette, Louisiana; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Texas Department of Public Safety; Louisiana State Patrol; police departments in Houston and Huntsville, Texas, and Lafayette and Youngsville, Louisiana; Texas sheriff’s offices in Walker, Harris and Fort Bend Counties; and Louisiana sheriff’s offices in Lafayette, St. Martin, New Iberia and St. Landry Parishes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharad S. Khandelwal prosecuted the case.