PAYNE SPRINGS, Texas — Editor's Note: The above video was published in March 2023.
A former East Texas police chief is set to be sentenced for her involvement in selling and purchasing methamphetamines last year.
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.
As a part of the plea, Meadows has to give up her peace officer license, records show.
In March 2023, Meadows and former Payne Springs Police Department officer Jonathan Hutchison, 41, of Mabank, were arrested on manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance and money laundering charges.
An arrest affidavit alleged that 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.
Hutchison pleaded guilty to tampering with electronic monitoring device, manufacture or delivery of controlled substance between 4 and 200 grams and possession of a controlled substance under a gram, according to judicial records.
His sentencing hearing is set for the morning of Aug. 12, according to Henderson County judicial records.