Hobbs Man Sentenced to 37 Months in Prison for Crack Cocaine Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE—United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales announced that, today in federal court in Santa Fe, Gary O. Austin, 52, of Hobbs, New Mexico, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for conspiring to possess crack cocaine with the intent to distribute. Austin will be on supervised release for three years after he completes his prison sentence.

Austin has been in federal custody since his arrest on August 19, 2010. On January 10, 2011, Austin pled guilty to an information charging him with conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute. In pleadings filed with the court, Austin admitted that, on March 30, 2009, he and co-defendant Nathaniel Ray Evans sold 14.32 net grams of crack cocaine to an undercover narcotics agent in exchange for $950; the transaction took place in Hobbs. Evans, 34, also of Hobbs, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with the intent to distribute on April 8, 2010. On January 18, 2011, Evans was sentenced to 37 months of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Lea County Drug Task Force and the Hobbs Police Department, and was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant United States Attorney Alfred J. Perez.