Two Members of a Methamphetamine and Cocaine-Trafficking Organization Sentenced to Prison

MOBILE, AL - Two Mobile men were sentenced 360 months and 72 months in prison for their roles in a drug-trafficking organization that distributed bulk methamphetamine and cocaine.

According to court documents, Larry Jerome Hunter, 43, and Tyrone Dansby, 52, pleaded guilty to taking part in a vast drug-trafficking organization ("DTO") led by Braxton A. Thomas that distributed bulk methamphetamine and cocaine between October 2021 and May 2024. Federal agents captured both Hunter and Dansby communicating with Thomas and others regarding drug transactions via court-authorized wiretaps of thousands of phone calls, text messages, and WhatsApp communications. On several occasions in 2023 and 2024, agents also seized large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine from the DTO.

For example, in March 2024, agents intercepted numerous calls between Thomas, Dansby, and a drug supplier about coordinating a delivery of bulk cocaine from Houston Texas, to Mobile. On March 10, 2024, agents arrested the supplier at a truck stop in Mobile after locating more than seven pounds of cocaine concealed behind the dash of the supplier's semitruck. The cocaine had been destined for Thomas to distribute to Dansby and others. Dansby was on federal supervised release at the time he committed his offense.

Days later, on March 15, 2024, agents intercepted calls indicating that Thomas had traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to ferry a bulk load of methamphetamine back to Mobile. That evening, agents arrested Thomas and several coconspirators who were traveling in a convoy of vehicles on Interstate 65 southbound in Baldwin County, Alabama. During that arrest, agents seized more than 26 pounds of 100% pure methamphetamine and a loaded .40 caliber pistol from a vehicle being driven by one of Thomas's couriers. Thomas admitted to agents that he regularly obtained kilograms of methamphetamine from a source in Atlanta, which Thomas would then bring back to Mobile to sell with the assistance of several mid-level distributors in his DTO, including Hunter. Thomas said he expected to earn $70,000 in profit from the load seized on March 15, 2024.

On March 20, 2024, police officers stopped a vehicle that Hunter was driving in Mobile. During a subsequent search of the car and Hunter's person, police seized individually packaged baggies of methamphetamine and cocaine, a loaded .40 caliber pistol, and $3,045 in cash. Hunter admitted that he had been trafficking methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy pills, and Lortab, and that he kept the pistol on him for protection because he had recently been shot five times. Hunter admitted that he had paid Thomas $3,500 for three pounds of methamphetamine, but the load had been busted days earlier. At the time of his arrest, Hunter had two prior felony convictions for unlawfully distributing controlled substances.

U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Hunter to serve 360 months in prison, followed by a 10-year term of supervised release, during which he will be subject to drug testing and treatment. Judge Moorer sentenced Dansby to serve 72 months in prison, followed by a five-year term of supervised release, during which he also will be subject to drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Moorer ordered the defendants to pay a total of $300 in special assessments. The court previously sentenced Thomas to life imprisonment, and sentenced other members of Thomas's DTO to serve decades in prison.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office, the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This prosecution was 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. HSTF Mobile comprises agents and officers from, among others, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Alabama.