Drug traffickers face life in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine in Eastern District of Texas

BEAUMONT, Texas - A Jefferson County man and woman have been charged with drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.

Starr Ann Brocato, 34, of Nederland, and John Wayne Brooks, 47, of Port Neches, were named in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas charging them with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.

The indictment alleges that from September to November 2025, Brocato and Brooks were involved in a conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine in the Eastern District of Texas and elsewhere.

If convicted, the defendants each face up to Life in federal prison.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lee.

A federal indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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