PAYNE SPRINGS, Texas — A former East Texas police chief was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her involvement in selling and purchasing methamphetamines in 2023.
April Meadows, 39, who was serving as Payne Springs chief of police last year, accepted an open plea to manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance and money laundering charges May 17 in the 392nd District Court. The judge deferred a finding of guilt and set a sentencing hearing for the morning of Aug. 27, according to Henderson County judicial records.
Meadows received two years in prison for the money laundering charge and 15 years for manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance. She will serve her sentences at the same time.
She will get 227 days of jail credit for time served, judicial records show. As a part of the plea, Meadows also had to give up her peace officer license.
Earlier this month, former Payne Springs Police Department officer Jonathan Hutchison, 41, of Mabank, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manufacture or delivery of controlled substance between 4 and 200 grams.
He also received two years in state jail for tampering with electronic monitoring device and two years in state jail for possession of a controlled substance under a gram, according to court records. These sentences will be served concurrently.