A Mobile man has been sentenced to 24 years in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy which stretched from Texas to Louisiana and into Mobile, becoming the second Mobile-area defendant to be sentenced in the case.

David Erik Crumpton, 47, is one of five defendants charged in a federal indictment with four counts of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Beginning in 2019, Texas resident and co-conspirator Christopher Perales would supply Crumpton with large quantities of methamphetamine which Crumpton would then sell in the Mobile area. Prosecutors showed that Pearls and Crumpton opened a joint bank account in Texas which enabled Crumpton to pay Perales for the meth.

Between July and December 2020, Crumpton made deposits totaling $125,000 into that account.

A third co-conspirator, Daniel Castillo-Garcia, was hired by Perales to serve as the delivery driver who would take the methamphetamine from Texas to Lafayette, La. Once he arrived in Lafayette, Castillo-Garcia would meet with another co-conspirator, David Willis Hale, who had been hired by Crumpton and another person, identified in court records only as “HJB,” to bring the methamphetamine from Lafayette to Mobile.

In some cases, prosecutors said, Castillo-Garcia would simply drive the meth from Texas to Mobile, without the need for a stop in between. Other times, Crumpton would drive to Texas to pick up the drugs from Perales directly.

In early August 2020, Crumpton and another co-conspirator told Hale to drive to Lafayette to pick up about 672 grams of methamphetamine from Castillo-Garcia which he had obtained from Perales and for which another co-conspirator had paid $8,000.

En route to pick up the meth, Hale was stopped by law enforcement in Hancock County on the Mississippi coast. Although he had yet to pick up the new shipment of methamphetamine, Hale was found with 50 grams of meth, ten ecstasy pills, one gram in heroin and the $8,000 intended for Perales. Hale was taken into custody.

In late October 2020, Mobile police raided the home of another co-defendant, 41-year-old Julie Alesia Roberts of Theodore. During the search, officers found about 615 grams of methamphetamine.

Investigators found that Crumpton and Roberts had agreed that the methamphetamine would be stored at Roberts home, although Crumpton and Roberts each had their own customer base to which they sold meth.

Then, in December 2020, Mobile police stopped a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban with Texas plates, driven by Castillo-Garcia. A search of the SUV found 491 grams of crystal meth. The discovery was made after a recorded phone call between a confidential informant and Perales in which the informant ordered a pound of methamphetamine. Perales told the informant he would send the meth to Mobile via his courier (Castillo-Garcia).

Roughly three weeks later, a Harrison County (Miss.) drug interdiction unit stopped Hale, who was traveling east on Interstate 10. During the stop, approximately 300 grams of crystal meth was found and investigators determined Hale was in route to Mobile to deliver the drugs to Crumpton.

Roberts had already pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy and was sentenced to four years in prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision. Perales, Castillo-Garcia and Hale have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mobile Police Department, Narcotics Unit, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and the Galveston County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.