USA - Texas Woman Sentenced After a Drone Carried a Crow-Shaped Package into a Federal Prison
On October 16, 2026, a federal judge in Alexandria, Louisiana, sentenced Melanie Jean Worthington, 39, of Joshua, Texas, to 70 months in prison. She had pleaded guilty on June 10 to conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute and to providing contraband in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana announced the sentence on October 22.
Court documents say that on March 8, 2026, Worthington and another person tried to fly methamphetamine into the United States Penitentiary at Pollock. The package was made to look like a crow and held more than 50 grams of methamphetamine. After reports of a drone near the prison, investigators found the pair in a vehicle with a drone case and a remote controller attached to a cellphone. The vehicle also held a crow-shaped package of cigars, tobacco, and papers soaked in synthetic marijuana. Staff inside the prison found a second crow-shaped package with more than 100 grams of methamphetamine, bundles believed to be THC concentrate, charging cords, SIM cards, and wireless earbuds. A third crow-shaped package, along with phones, rolling papers, and tobacco, was in Worthington's hotel room. The announcement does not name the other person in that case.
The same day, Judge Jerry Edwards, Jr. sentenced Yoan Seirra Hernandez, 42, of West Park, Florida, to 120 months in a separate Pollock drone case. Hernandez pleaded guilty on June 26. Investigators say that on December 6, 2024, he intended to fly drugs into the prison. Deputies who searched a nearby rental found drones, methamphetamine, marijuana, and packaged cellphones.