A lengthy criminal investigation involving the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety and Dallas Police has resulted in a number of federal convictions and a 30-year sentence for a South Dallas drug trafficking kingpin.
U.S. Attorney John Parker announced Friday the sentencing of a Pleasant Grove man following his guilty plea last year to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, heroin and marijuana, as well as one count of kidnapping.
Patrick D. Lenard, 34, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for his involvement in a violent drug trafficking organization that operated out of both the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas, and from inside the Dallas County Jail.
A total of 11 defendants have been convicted and all but two have been sentenced.
One of Lenard's co-defendants, Selena Ball, of DeSoto, worked for the Dallas County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, where part of her job involved the electronic monitoring inmates, including Lenard, with whom she had a romantic relationship, despite the clear conflict of interest. Because of their relationship, she changed or failed to report violations of Lenard's condition of release.
Court documents indicate that at various times between November 2012 and November 2014, Lenard conducted and managed drug-trafficking activities directly from his Dallas County Jail cell.
He used jail phones to call co-conspirators so that he could give instructions or obtain information related to drug-trafficking activities. On one of those occasions, Lenard engaged in a phone conference call involving Ball and others, about illegal drug transactions and money obtained from those transactions.
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Lenard also admitted to his role in a brutal kidnapping that occurred Nov. 10, 2012, when court documents show Lenard offered a co-conspirator $10,000 to locate and kidnap someone Lenard said stole money from him. In a daring, broad-daylight incident, those co-conspirators located the person Lenard sought and kidnapped him from a gas station in the 2600 block of North Stemmons Freeway in Dallas.
Several surveillance cameras recorded the kidnapping.
The documents indicate the kidnap victim was struck by the kidnapper's vehicle as he attempted to run away, then was forced into their car and was taken to an apartment at gunpoint and repeatedly assaulted.
Those assaults included burning him with a hot skillet, in an attempt to get information from him regarding the money Lenard stated he had stolen. Later, federal prosecutors said Lenard attempted to have the victim paid off with the proceeds from other drug transactions or disappear altogether to discourage him from testifying before a federal grand jury.
