Texas Police Chief Threatens Jail for Buying and Selling Drugs

PAYNE SPRINGS, Texas — Editor’s note: The above video was published in March 2023.

The former East Texas police chief is scheduled to be sentenced in August for her involvement in the sale and purchase of methamphetamine.

April Meadows, 39, who served as Payne Springs police chief last year, entered an open plea to manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance and money laundering charges May 17 in the 392nd District Court. The judge deferred a guilty finding and scheduled a sentencing hearing for the morning of Aug. 27, according to Henderson County court records.

Court records show Meadows must surrender his peace officer license.

In March 2023, Meadows and former Payne Springs Police Officer Jonathan Hutchison, 41, of Mabank, were arrested on manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance and money laundering charges.

The arrest affidavit said Meadows and Hutchison used a confidential informant to set up a methamphetamine trafficking operation while also using a Payne Springs Police Department mailbox as a drug drop-off site. The informant was instructed to make approximately 20-30 drug purchases under the direction of the officers. The document says Meadows and Hutchison also marked some bags of methamphetamine as “evidence.”

Court records show Hutchison pleaded guilty to tampering with an electronic monitoring device, producing or delivering a controlled substance in an amount between 4 and 200 grams and possessing a controlled substance in an amount less than one gram.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for the morning of Aug. 12, according to Henderson County court records.