CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A 54-year-old South Texas woman will serve time in prison herself after mailing papers laced with methamphetamine to an inmate.
Gail Hostetter was sentenced Tuesday for knowingly and intentionally possessing and attempting to provide meth to an inmate at the Coastal Bend Detention Center, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas. Hostetter had pleaded guilty to the crime on July 21.
At the time of her plea, Hostetter admitted to mailing meth into a jail facility on at least one other occasion.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ordered Hostetter to serve 24 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by two years of supervised release.
“On Jan. 29, 2021, Hostetter mailed a letter purporting to be from a local law firm to an inmate at CBDC,” the USAO stated. “However, facility staff intercepted it and sent it for testing. The mail tested positive for meth.”
Investigators then executed a search warrant at Hostetter’s residence and found more empty envelopes pre-addressed from various local law firms.
The inmate devised the plan and recruited Hostetter among others to mail meth-laced papers into the detention center, federal prosecutors said. The scheme involved creating envelopes designed to look like legal mail.
Hostetter has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
