{"id":38027,"date":"2022-02-02T21:35:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T21:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/02\/02\/how-a-former-navy-co-became-a-heavily-armed-meth-dealer\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:40:16","slug":"how-a-former-navy-co-became-a-heavily-armed-meth-dealer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2022\/02\/02\/how-a-former-navy-co-became-a-heavily-armed-meth-dealer\/","title":{"rendered":"How a former Navy CO became a heavily armed meth dealer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A former Navy commanding officer of several minesweepers was sentenced to 19 years in prison Thursday after he was convicted for dealing meth and firearms offenses, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdtx\/pr\/former-navy-commander-headed-federal-prison\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Justice Department<\/a> announced Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lance Esswein, 58, left the Navy as a commander in 2006 and once commanded the minesweepers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navsource.org\/archives\/11\/1212.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Ardent<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uscarriers.net\/mcm9history.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Pioneer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He received a less-than-honorable discharge from the Navy following 16 years, according to the Feds, but Navy officials declined to discuss specifics of his departure, citing privacy regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judge Janis Graham Jack determined Esswein\u2019s sentence in part after finding him responsible for distributing nearly 10 pounds of \u201cice,\u201d according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdtx\/pr\/former-navy-commander-headed-federal-prison\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of Texas<\/a> release announcing the sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe court also heard Esswein had offered to arrange the murder of two local police officers to prevent their testimony in an unrelated drug case,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Esswein pleaded guilty in January 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2021\/09\/13\/retired-navy-officer-sentenced-to-life-for-child-sex-abuse\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lt.-Cdr.-Ronald-Zenga.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Retired Navy officer sentenced to life for child sex abuse<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Lt. Cmdr. Ronald Zenga sexually abused a minor from the time he was assigned to Guam between 2010 and 2013 and continuing beyond his retirement in October 2017, when he was on the faculty at the Naval War College.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of his trial record remains under seal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But according to a 2019 affidavit from Corpus Christi police detective Jamie Pelfrey, who also serves on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security task force, Palfrey learned via a source that Esswein was distributing \u201clarge amounts of methamphetamine in the Coastal Bend area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That source arranged to purchase roughly a quarter-pound of meth from Esswein in February 2019, Pelfrey wrote in the affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When authorities executed a search warrant on Esswein\u2019s Portland, Texas, residence, they found more meth and \u201cnumerous firearms staged around the residence,\u201d according to the Attorney\u2019s Office release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe also had loaded assault rifles positioned just inside the front door,\u201d according to the release. \u201cThe investigation revealed significant additional quantities of meth, other narcotics and firearms at storage units and vehicles Esswein controlled. They found a total of 36 weapons, including stolen firearms and firearms with missing serial numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After leaving the Navy, Esswein worked as a risk assessment manager for Nueces County and as an Texas A&amp;M Corpus Christi adjunct professor, according to the Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Navy Cmdr. Lance Esswein was sentenced to 19 years in prison last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":71224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home","disaster"],"primary_category":"your-military"}}},"categories":[101,22,23,88,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3355],"class_list":["post-38027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-disaster","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"Y5MXNYQBRNFU5DGNBD3FVHOVJM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2022\/02\/02\/how-a-former-navy-co-became-a-heavily-armed-meth-dealer\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a former Navy CO became a heavily armed meth dealer - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Navy Cmdr. 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