“Today, the Justice Department has taken several significant enforcement actions to disrupt large-scale illegal gun and drug trafficking operations,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “I am grateful to all of the Department’s agents, prosecutors, and staff involved in these actions, as well as to our state and local partners, for their tireless work. The actions taken today represent the work that is being done by this Department every single day to disrupt violent crime, combat gun violence, and get deadly fentanyl out of our communities.”
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a seven-count indictment was unsealed charging David Mccann, Tajhai Jones, Raymond Minaya, and Calvin Tabron with allegedly conspiring to illegally traffic more than 50 firearms. Mccann and Minaya are also charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; Mccann is additionally charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. Mccann, Jones, Minaya, and Tabron were arrested this morning. Mccann and Minaya are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl. Jones and Tabron will be arraigned in Virginia.
This prosecution is the first in New York, and among the first in the country, to charge the gun trafficking provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Congress and the President enacted in June 2022. The Act is the first federal statute specifically designed to target gun trafficking. Among other provisions, it creates a standalone firearm trafficking conspiracy offense, which the government has charged in this case to hold accountable those who conspire to illegally sell firearms. The Act provides for sentences of up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
Read more about the case here.
In the Northern District of West Virginia today, two Baltimore-based drug trafficking organizations that supplied large amounts of fentanyl to West Virginia and caused at least two deaths have been dismantled by separate federal indictments that were unsealed today.
Thirty-four people from Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia were indicted on charges related to the sale of fentanyl, heroin, and other drugs in Hampshire County and Mineral County. The drugs distributed led to a spike in overdoses in the region, both fatal and non-fatal. Much of the fentanyl had high levels of purity and had a purple tint to distinguish it from drugs sold by competitors.
In the first indictment, Kentrel Anthony Rollins, aka T-Rock, 30, of Baltimore, Maryland, is alleged to be the leader of a fentanyl distribution operation in Hampshire County and elsewhere from January 2020 to October 2021. Court documents show that in addition to the sale of drugs, there was firearms trafficking and the trading of guns for drugs. Many of the firearms were acquired by a straw purchaser on behalf of the organization. 12 people are charged in this matter, which also includes the alleged trafficking of heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine.
In the second indictment, Sean Jarred Davis, 31, also of Baltimore, is alleged to be the leader of a conspiracy to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl, as well as heroin, in Hampshire County and elsewhere from February 2021 to January 2023. A total of 22 individuals are charged in the case.
Read more about the case here.
And in the Southern District of Georgia today, 76 defendants are named in a newly unsealed federal indictment describing a massive drug trafficking investigation tied to the Ghost Face Gangsters criminal street gang that includes allegations of multiple deaths from illegal drug overdoses.
As announced today at a multi-agency news conference held at Glynn County Police Department Headquarters in Brunswick, Georgia, the indictment in USA v. Alvarez et. al, dubbed Operation Ghost Busted, charges 76 defendants with involvement in a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed large amounts of methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, and alprazolam in the greater Glynn County area. The primary conspiracy charge in the indictment carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, up to life, along with substantial financial penalties and a period of supervised release following any prison term.
Read more about the case here.
An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty
