Two Pocatello men indicted on federal drug charges
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POCATELLO — A federal grand jury has indicted two local men on multiple drug charges — including conspiring to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine.
Hank David Langley, 41, and Thomas Joel Schooley, 38, have each been charged with felony conspiracy to distribute, according to court documents. Langley has also been charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to deliver.
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Langley and Schooley were arrested during separate incidents in which officers from multiple agencies investigated allegations of multi-state drug distribution.
Schooley, along with two others, was found in possession of 81.6 grams of suspected meth and nine suspected fentanyl dirty 30 pills in January. The drug recovery was part of an investigation by the Oregon-Idaho High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force.
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Langley was also arrested in January following a traffic stop requested by Pocatello police detectives investigating claims of drug trafficking.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Langley had just recently returned from California in possession of a large amount of meth. When a vehicle he was a passenger in was stopped, officers found him in possession of 671.7 grams of suspected meth, 101.3 grams of suspected dirty 30 fentanyl pills and 19 grams of suspected cocaine.
Thirty-milligram Oxycodone pills, which fentanyl dirty 30s are designed to mimic, weigh 135 milligrams apiece. Based on this, 101.3 grams would be roughly 750 pills.
The conspiracy to distribute a schedule II narcotic charge carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison — up to life — and $10,000 in fines. The possession of fentanyl with intent to deliver charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines.
If they are found guilty and sentenced to the minimum prison time, both men would be released into supervised probation — three years for the possession charge and five years for the conspiracy charge.
Both men were recently charged by the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office for trafficking meth. Local charges against Schooley have been dismissed. A motion for dismissal of charges against Langley, filed March 31, has not yet been ruled upon by magistrate judge Scott Axline.
The federal indictments of both men were filed on March 28. A trial date has not yet been set.