Former drug counselor pleads guilty to making meth

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Former drug counselor pleads guilty to making meth
Saturday, July 8, 2006 2:33 PM CDT

By LISA BOSE McDERMOTT
Texarkana Gazette

U.S. Attorney Matt Orwig announced that a former Texarkana drug counselor has pleaded guilty to a federal drug charge related to the manufacture of methamphetamines.

Robert Olan Dooley, 44, admitted to conspiracy to manufacture meth to U.S. District Judge David Folsom. Dooley had been indicted and awaiting trial since Nov. 1, 2005.

The case was prosecuted locally by Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Bryant. It was investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Bowie County Sheriff’s Department.

Prosecutors say Dooley, a drug counselor in the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office for three years in the mid-1990s, admitted providing pseudoephedrine pills to Jonathan Mark Taylor and assisted Taylor on about four separate occasions in the manufacture of meth in the spring of 2003.

In exchange for a portion of the finished product, Dooley agreed to provide some of the chemicals, specifically the pseudoephedrine, needed to manufacture the methamphetamine. Prosecutors say Taylor was the meth cook but was occasionally assisted by Dooley.

Dooley and Taylor distributed the meth to others, to some for a cost but to others for free. Taylor was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture meth.

Dooley faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million at sentencing. He will be sentenced in 60 to 90 days after federal probation officers complete a sentencing investigation.

Dooley has prior drug arrests in Bowie County, including a Nov. 30, 2000, arrest for transfer/receipt of a chemical precursor and on Feb. 7, 2001, for delivery of a controlled substance.

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