Sam Hurd Faces New Drug Charges

New indictment also names Hurd's cousin

Federal prosecutors have added the cousin of former Dallas Cowboy Sam Hurd to his drug conspiracy case, accusing the relative of plotting to buy large amounts of drugs with Hurd -- and then trying to purchase even more months after Hurd's arrest.
 
The new charges accuse Hurd of plotting to buy more than 220 pounds of marijuana before his arrest in December. His previous indictment only accused him of trying to obtain cocaine.
 
Hurd spent five seasons with the Cowboys and signed with the Chicago Bears last summer. The Bears cut him after his arrest in a sting outside a fancy Chicago-area steak restaurant.
 
According to court documents, Hurd's cousin, Jesse Tyrone Chavful, of San Antonio,  was arrested in an undercover sting on June 6 at his business.  Business records show Chavful, 45, is the sole owner of a company called "T. Love Express."

In a superceding indictment -- which replaces Hurd's earlier charges -- Chavful, Hurd, and another man, Toby Lujan, are accused of running a drug conspiracy from July 2011 until last month. However, only Chavful is charged with continuing to deal after Hurd and Lujan were arrested.
 
The new indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury in Dallas on June 20. The initial case, filed on January 3, only named Hurd and Lujan.
 
According to a criminal complaint released earlier, three informants went to Chavful's San Antonio business  in late 2011 and noticed he was wearing a Dallas Cowboys' jersey and had several posters of Hurd on the wall. 
 
One of the men asked Chavful if he was a Cowboys' fan, and Chavful told them Hurd was his cousin and added that Hurd was buying about 1,500 kilos of hydroponic marijuana from Los Angeles, the complaint said. Hydroponic marijuana is generally more potent and grown indoors.
 
Agents claim Chavful told the informants Hurd was interested in finding a drug dealer who could supply him with up to 2000 kilos -- or 4,409 pounds -- of hydroponic marijuana every week. In one meeting, Chavful said Hurd had a "hydro shop in California." 
 
Chavful claimed he coordinated marijuana deliveries for Hurd for several years "because Hurd could not take the risk," the complaint said.
 
In one key meeting on May 23 between an informant and Chavful, they discussed Hurd's arrest, and Chavful claimed Hurd "had a hydro shop in California."
 
Chavful was convicted of drug dealing in 1993 and 1996 and was on federal probation until 2014, the court document says.
 
The complaint also reveals the three informants initially met with Chavful in October -- two months before Hurd's arrest -- as part of an undercover operation by the Drug Enforcement Administration. It does not explain why Chavful was not arrested then or charged at the same time as Hurd and Lujan.
 
Agents from the Department of Homeland Security 's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, are conducting the current investigation.
 
The government also wants Hurd to forfeit his 2010 Cadillac Escalade and $88,000 in cash seized in Dallas in July 2011.
 
Agents also seized $4,297 from Chavful after his arrest.
 
Hurd and Lujan were released on bond pending their trial. Chavful was jailed in San Antonio and transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, 11 miles south of Dallas. Court records do not list an attorney for Chavful.
 
Hurd's attorney, Michael McCrum of San Antonio, did not immediately return a call Monday seeking comment.

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