GREENVILLE, Mississippi — A Texas man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in connection with a large-scale drug trafficking investigation that led to the seizure of more than 25 kilograms of cocaine, about $150,000 in drug proceeds and multiple vehicles, federal officials said.
Harold Cook, 55, of Fort Worth, Texas, entered the guilty plea after a federal jury had already been selected in the case, prosecutors said. Court documents say Cook and co-defendants were charged in an indictment that included cocaine conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
Cook will be sentenced later by Chief U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown. He was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service following his guilty plea, prosecutors said.
Federal officials said the investigation was part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established in 2025 to target criminal cartels, human smuggling operations and drug trafficking organizations. “We are all aware of the devastation that drug trafficking and violent gangs have visited on our communities,” Scott F. Leary, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, said in a statement. “By dismantling this drug trafficking organization, hundreds of pounds of drugs will be taken off our streets and lives will be saved.”
Leary praised the work of the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department, Drug Enforcement Administration offices in Oxford, El Paso and Fairview Heights, Illinois, and the U.S. Marshals Service. Steven Hofer, special agent in charge of the DEA, said the operation demonstrated cooperation between federal, state and local agencies. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Stringfellow and Julie Addison. This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.
