FBI and Seattle Safe Streets Task Force Target Major Narcotics Distribution Ring Following Lengthy Investigation

Trafficked and Distributed Thousands of Oxycodone Pills

More than 100 federal and local law enforcement agents fanned out across the Puget Sound Region and Northern California today to arrest more than 20 defendants implicated in a significant narcotics trafficking ring, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. Eighteen of the defendants have been indicted by the grand jury for distributing thousands of oxycodone pills in the Seattle area. An additional six defendants were arrested for their role in the drug distribution scheme. The arrests are the culmination of a two-year investigation by the Seattle Safe Streets Task Force, operated by the FBI and Seattle Police Department. The defendants will make their initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle at 2:30 today.

“Prescription drug abuse is a growing threat in our community, with terrible consequences,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. “This drug ring was feeding addiction with thousands of pills trafficked from California. They lined their pockets by destroying the lives and families of so many in our community.”

According to the criminal complaints and indictment, members of the ring would frequently travel to Northern California to pick up 2,000 to 5,000 percocet (oxycodone) pills per trip. The ring, led by HERMAN J. ROCHE, 43, of Kent, Washington would then sell the pills throughout the Puget Sound region. The investigation into the organized criminal group involved confidential informants as well as court authorized wiretaps of three phones belonging to ROCHE. Agents in California arrested defendants who were the source of supply for the drugs.

“Drugs tear at the inner fabric of our community in countless ways,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Laura M. Laughlin. “They bring violence to our streets. They waste young lives and wreak havoc on families. They drain the resources of our health care systems. This joint investigation with the Seattle Police Department focused not only on taking harmful drugs off the streets, but on dismantling the organization behind them. The FBI is committed to preventing criminal enterprises from continuing to damage our community.”

In addition to ROCHE, those indicted for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances include:

■ROBERT M. KEARNEY JR., 40, of Stockton, California

■SHAUNTE M. ANTHONY, 34, of Oakland, California

■RUCHELL GILBERT, 38, of Renton, Washington

■BRANDY N. BUTLER, 34, of Seattle, Washington

■NICKOLE E. MARTIN, 25, of Kent, Washington

■JASON R. LEE, 26, of Seattle, Washington

■RAHMAN JOHNSON, 35, of Kent, Washington

■SAXTON F. MASON, 35, of Seattle, Washington

■ERNEST J. ELLISON, 47, of Seattle, Washington

■DEMONTA M. HENRY, 24, of Kent, Washington

■VINCENT L. FIELDS, 44, of Tacoma, Washington

■COREY A. BROWN, 39, of Seattle, Washington

■CLARENCE D. WILLIAMS, 32, of Seattle, Washington

■JOSEPH D. ROCHE, 46, of Seattle, Washington

■THOMAS D. LEE, 45, of Seattle, Washington

■DAVID L. POTTS, 48, of Spanaway, Washington

■CURIUM L. HURLEY, 29, of Tukwila, Washington

The defendants charged by complaint include:

■DANIEL M.YOHANNES, 26, of Seattle, Washington

■BRIAN M. DAVIS, 33, of Seattle, Washington

■FREDERICK L. NEWMAN Jr., 39, of Tukwila, Washington

■ANTHONY F. COLBERT, 42, Renton, Washington

Additional defendants arrested include:

■NEGASH MULU WOLDESELASE, 25, of Seattle, Washington

■ALVIN ROCHELL MITCHELL, 24, of Seattle, Washington

“This joint SPD-FBI investigation and the federal prosecution of these hard-core, violent career criminals will impact our Seattle neighborhoods in a positive way by making our streets a safer place for everyone,” said Seattle Police Chief John Diaz.

The charges contained in the indictment and complaints are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

This was an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, providing supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved.

The case is being investigated by the Seattle Safe Streets Task Force containing agents and officers from the FBI and Seattle Police Department. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), along with officers from the Auburn Police Department, Des Moines Police Department, Federal Way Police Department, Kent Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Office, Kirkland Police Department, Mountlake Terrace Police Department, Port of Seattle Police Department, Renton Police Department, and Tukwila Police Department partnered with the task force on today’s arrests.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nicholas Brown and Vince Lombardi. Press contact on August 28, 2012 is Ayn Sandalo Dietrich at the FBI, (206) 262-2390 or Ayn.Dietrich@ic.fbi.gov.

Montgomery Man Sentenced to More Than 12 Years in Prison for Five Bank Robberies

BIRMINGHAM—U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins today sentenced a Montgomery man to 12 years and seven months in prison for five bank robberies in Alabama, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Maley.

NATHAN H. JENKINS JR., 50, pleaded guilty in June to committing four bank robberies in Tuscaloosa and one in Auburn between April 2009 and October 2010.

A federal jury indicted Jenkins in March 2011 for the October 7, 2010 armed robbery of the Bank of Tuscaloosa on North McFarland Circle. He pleaded guilty to that robbery, acknowledging he entered the bank, brandished a toy pistol, demanded money from bank tellers, and stole about $8,000.

Jenkins also pleaded guilty to three additional bank robberies in Tuscaloosa, which prosecutors charged him with after the 2011 indictment. Those robberies all took place at Cadence Bank on McFarland Boulevard North. Jenkins robbed that bank on April 23, 2009, taking about $17,703; August 14, 2009, taking about $8,782; and again on October 23, 2009, taking about $12,501.

Jenkins attempted to rob a bank in Auburn in 2010 and pleaded guilty to bank robbery in that case. His robbery attempt at the Bank of Auburn on October 5, 2010 was broken up by bank security officers before Jenkins was able to obtain any money. The Auburn case was transferred in federal court from the Middle to the Northern District of Alabama.

Jenkins was indicted for the Bank of Tuscaloosa robbery along with Tracey Padgett, 48, of Montgomery. Padgett was charged as an accessory after the fact for trying to hide the stolen money in her purse immediately after the robbery. She pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced in August to one year and a day in prison.

“Jenkins went on a manic crime spree in which he robbed the same Tuscaloosa bank three times within six months and robbed another Tuscaloosa bank only three days after being shot at by bank security guards in Auburn who thwarted his robbery attempt there,” Vance said. “Jenkins endangered everyone in these banks and spread fear throughout these college communities. Fortunately, through the combined efforts of local law enforcement and the FBI, this dangerous criminal was captured and convicted of these crimes.”

“I am proud of the investigative efforts of our agents and the Tuscaloosa and Auburn police departments, who worked diligently to bring this violent felon to justice,” Maley said.

The FBI and the Tuscaloosa and Auburn police departments investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Terence M. O’Rourke prosecuted it.

Prison Sentence for Puyallup Man Who Dealt Large Amounts of Prescription Narcotics

Defendant Sold Oxycodone from Smoke Shops on Tribal Land

BILLY MIRANDA FLORES, 42, of Puyallup, Washington was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 20 years in prison in connection with a major drug distribution conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. In February 2011, FLORES was convicted of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, three counts of distribution of oxycodone, possession of methadone with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime following a two week jury trial. The evidence at trial revealed that BILLY MIRANDA FLORES was selling hundreds or even thousands of pills of Oxycontin (oxycodone), along with methadone, each day. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton said FLORES had harmed many people. “The biggest challenge for any judge sentencing someone is distinguishing between dumb or ignorant defendants who need a break, and those criminals that are really bad. I put Billy Miranda Flores among that [latter] group. He preys on people, he has no empathy for other people,” Judge Leighton said.

“This defendant flooded his community with powerful drugs that destroyed the fabric of many lives,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. “We commend tribal authorities who worked with federal law enforcement to stop the flow of these drugs into Native and non-Native communities.”

Six people were arrested in October 2009, following a lengthy investigation of prescription drug dealing from the Indian Smoke Shop on Puyallup Tribal Trust Land in Milton, Washington and the Lil Red Smoke Shop on Tribal Trust Land in Tacoma, Washington. According to records filed in the case, the 18-month investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI revealed that BILLY MIRANDA FLORES not only sold large amounts of Oxycontin from his smoke shop, he was also the principal supplier of Oxycontin to other members of the conspiracy who then distributed it. Danny Lee Sherwood was a key coconspirator who stored the drugs for FLORES and sold them to others. FLORES and Sherwood sold the Oxycontin for between $35 and $70 per pill, giving discounts for high-volume purchases. Over the course of the investigation, FLORES and Sherwood sold Oxycontin to a DEA undercover agent and a confidential informant working with police. Agents seized over $50,000 in cash—the proceeds of the drug sales—when the search warrants were executed in October 2009. FLORES was caught with hundreds of methadone pills, and Sherwood had hundreds of oxycodone pills in his car and a safe in his bedroom.

The Puyallup Tribe has since bulldozed the Lil Red Smoke Shop and shut down the Indian Smoke Shop.

In their sentencing memo, prosecutors wrote about the damage done by the oxycontin dealing. “Not only is the health of the individual drug users harmed, but the health and public safety of the entire community is put at risk in many ways. Increased crime, some of it violent, either to support drug habits or simply committed by those high on drugs. Persons high on drugs get into vehicular accidents or cause injuries or damage to property and lives in other ways. Drug addicts soak up medical care and take up hospital beds, as well as raise medical costs for everyone,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

As for the other defendants in the case: Bill Celeya Flores, 60, of Tacoma, father of defendant BILLY MIRANDA FLORES, was sentenced to 57 months in prison; Jay Timothy Morehead, 24, was sentenced to 18 months in prison; and Shelbie Ingham, 19, is serving a nine-month prison sentence. Tiny Bean-Flores, 29, of Tacoma and Danny Sherwood are scheduled for sentencing on March 6, 2012.

This was an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, providing supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved. The lead investigative agencies on the case were the DEA and FBI, with assistance from a number of state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Fife, Milton, Puyallup, and Auburn Police Departments; the Tahoma Narcotics Enforcement Team; and the South Sound Gang Task Force, which includes the Tacoma and Lakewood Police Departments; and the Washington State Patrol and Department of Corrections.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Gregory A. Gruber and David Reese Jennings.