Woman Pleads Guilty to Meth, Child Endangerment Charges; Gets 32 Years

TYLER – Smith County officials say Lacy Layne Taylor drew a 32-year prison sentence after pleading guilty Thursday to meth and child endangerment charges. According to a news release from the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, from September through October of 2014, sheriff’s investigators and federal agents had been focusing on the methamphetamine distribution activities of Taylor and her boyfriend, Drew Michael Mizzles. On October 22, local and federal law enforcement personnel executed a narcotics search warrant at 15834 Highway 64 East in Tyler. Officials say they learned Taylor was the mother of three children aged six years, two years, and six months, who were all residing in the home with Taylor and Mizzles.

During a subsequent search of the residence investigators seized a quantity of methamphetamine/ice which was packaged and forwarded to the Texas Department of Public Safety Laboratory for analysis. Taylor and Mizzles were arrested and transported to the Smith County Jail, where they were charged with manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance 4 grams to 200 grams (felony) and abandonment/child endangerment (felony). All three children were removed from the home by Child Protective Services.

On November 3, CPS investigators notified the sheriff’s Office that all three children had been screened for drugs and that all three of the children showed positive for methamphetamine. Two of the children’s test results showed extremely high contents of methamphetamine with an indication of daily exposure. Drew Michael Mizzles has also been indicted by a federal grand jury and is currently in federal custody on federal drug charges.