CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A career criminal with more than 10 prior convictions for burglary was sentenced Jan. 15 to 130 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamines following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston’s Corpus Christi office and the Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD).
Jose Humberto Morales, a 45-year-old resident of Corpus Christi, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 130 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamines. Morales pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 24, 2024.
In handing down the sentence, the court considered evidence of Morales’ serious and recidivist criminal history dating back to 1996, including more than 10 state convictions for burglary.
“For almost three decades this career criminal has repeatedly victimized and terrorized the residents of Southeast Texas, whether it was by breaking into their homes and violating their sense of safety, or by trafficking deadly narcotics in the local community,” said HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz. “Thanks to the hard work by our special agents at HSI Corpus Christi and our partners at the Corpus Christi Police Department, he will spend the next 10 years in prison as a consequence for preying on innocent law-abiding Texans.”
On May 5, 2023, law enforcement observed Morales, an identified gang member they knew to have active arrest warrants, on the street outside a residence in Corpus Christi and he was taken into custody on those warrants. During a search of his person, they discovered three separate baggies containing over 50 grams of methamphetamines combined.
Morales was later recorded on a jail call admitting that the methamphetamines discovered by authorities were intended for distribution.
Morales will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Martin prosecuted the case.
For more news and information on HSI’s efforts to investigate illicit narcotics smuggling and trafficking in Southeast Texas follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @HSIHouston.