A Dallas woman, previously convicted, has now been handed a 12.5-year federal prison sentence for slinging meth and packing heat. Danette Ozuna, 48, caught the book on charges of possession with intent to distribute drugs and illegal firearm possession, following a guilty plea last September.
According to the feds, Ozuna was operating out of the Star Motel in Dallas, selling methamphetamine to a confidential informant multiple times in March 2022 before a May raid on her room led to her arrest. It was during that raid law enforcement found the incriminating goods—cash, drugs, a handgun, and a drug ledger with a simple set of rules for buyers, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Wednesday's sentence, delivered by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, marks another checkered milestone in Ozuna's life of crime, having been previously imprisoned for a 2014 offense. This fresh sentence for the 48-year-old builds on an existing criminal narrative, her right to gun ownership already revoked by the prior conviction in 2014, making this latest possession a federal offense.
The sentencing hearing painted a vivid picture of Ozuna's meticulous operation, with a posted sign in her hotel room bluntly outlining her drug-dealing etiquette. The prices and policies for her meth sales could compel a reader to double-take, laying bare a coded economy that thrived in the shadows of the Dallas underbelly. The DEA, Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department, and the Dallas Police Department were credited for dismantling this clandestine enterprise.
For further information, officials point to Erin Dooley, the Public Affairs Officer, literally directing queries about the case to her office, maintaining that civic curtain that separates law from disorder. Regardless, it's the end of the line for Ozuna, who now faces a substantial stretch behind bars, her days of rule-setting for drug deals decidedly over.
