HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas — A former East Texas police officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison for using an informant to sell and purchase methamphetamines.
Former Payne Springs Police Department officer Jonathan Hutchison, 41, of Mabank, was arrested in March 2023 along with former Payne Springs Chief of Police April Meadows on manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance and money laundering charges.
On Wednesday, he 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 come after Hutchison pleaded guilty to the charges in April. Hutchison, who has 260 days of credit for time served, will served his sentences out at the same time.
According to court records, Hutchison had his money laundering charge and a controlled substance possession charge dismissed.
Meadows, who accepted an open guilty plea in May, is set to have a sentencing hearing on Aug. 27, according to Henderson County judicial records. As a part of her plea, Meadows has to give up her peace officer license, records show.
She is charged with money laundering between $2,500 and $30,000 and manufacture or delivery of controlled substance between 4 and 200 grams.
An arrest affidavit said Meadows and Hutchison used a confidential informant to create a meth dealing operation while also using the Payne Springs Police Department mailbox as a drop-off location for the drugs. This informant was told to make about 20 to 30 narcotics purchases under the officers' direction. Meadows and Hutchison also marked some of the bags of meth as "evidence," the document read.