ADA's tip led to Ostentatious lawyer's meth bust

Two surgeries and a ruptured appendix

Waco – Lester Hood, III, walked into a buzz saw when he arrived in court on Friday, February 10, 2012.

Lester Hood, III

An attorney, he traveled from Austin that day to represent three defendants on methamphetamine charges, but a not so confidential informant narced on him the day before he left on his journey.

According to an offense and arrest report obtained through a Public Information Act request by R.S. Gates, Assistant District Attorney Gabrielle Massey contacted Drug Enforcement Officer John Allovio of the Waco Police Department to say Mr. Hood would be coming to town to do some lawyering.

She said the word from multiple sources is that he has a substance abuse problem caused by using methamphetamine, and that “Hood would be transporting methamphetamine in the Waco area.”

When he showed up in the McLennan County Courthouse parking lot, he was driving a 1995 Honda Civic registered to Chance Birdsall. A drug dog alerted on the car, and officers who searched found an empty vial that had contained methamphetamine, but had only trace elements of the drug inside when it was found.

They arrested him for possession of less than a gram of methamphetamine, he bailed out of jail, and was set to show up in 54^th State District Court in March.

Should have called in sick

But Mr. Hood was feeling poorly, so he blew off his court date, and Judge Matt Johnson issued a warrant for his arrest. Folks who were there that day say the judge wasn't all that happy about the situation. He set his bail at $250,000.

Hood has been in jail since May, and spent two weeks of that time in a local hospital where he experienced two surgical procedures to clean up after an appendix that ruptured. It's not clear if he was incarcerated in the McLennan County lockup, or the privately operated Jack Harwell Detention Center at the time of the acute attack of appendicitis.

But it's not over until it's over. His guilty plea in return for a reported 3 years deferred probation and a $250 fine is pending a pre-sentence investigation. The judge reduced his bail to $10,000.

Apparently, he is in no hurry because authorities in Bandera County are holding an arrest warrant for him. They're just waiting to come get him when his business is straight in Six Shooter Junction.