LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nearly 40 people, many from Louisville, were recently arrested after police seized 252 pounds of meth and 12 kilos of cocaine at a Bullitt County gas station.
The bust, touted as the infiltration of a "major drug organization," was the latest result of a federal investigation into a pipeline of illegal drugs making their way from Mexico across the border and up to Kentucky and Indiana.
"We're mostly seeing the networks driving through the state of Kentucky," said Erek Davodowich, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Louisville Field Office. "So what we know is that the two major cartels that are responsible for bringing and sending forth fentanyl, methamphetamine all the drugs that come in."
The DEA said drugs purchased in California are priced low, but once they make their way to Louisville, they are marked up much higher. The reason for that, partially, is the risk involved in transporting the drugs, risk that is passed on to the buyer:
"The drugs may come here but all of those drugs are not necessarily destined for Louisville, Kentucky," Davodowich said.
The DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation and Owensboro Police Department worked on the large investigation conducted by the Organized Crime and Drug and Enforcement Task Force. Investigators said between March 2023 and August 2024, agents received a tip that led them to a Love's gas station in Shepherdsville in Bullitt County, where two of the suspects met up.
Investigators said Deandre Williams and Djuan Truss were seen removing large boxes from a tractor trailer and placing them in the back seat of a pickup truck. The boxes contained more than 252 pounds of crystal meth and 12 kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $1 million.
Investigators said the drugs were believed to be headed to Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
"Some of the challenges were communications," Davodowich said. "A lot of days now, the trafficker is using encrypted methods of communications, which makes it really difficult for us to intercept such communications."
Mugshots of some of the 37 people indicted for an alleged federal drug trafficking ring that ran between California and Kentucky. Images from Oldham, Daviess and Grayson County Detention Centers in Kentucky. Aug. 21, 2024
Investigators said Williams is the same man who was acquitted of murder in 2017. In a 2019 trial, jurors found Williams not guilty after a four-day trial. He was accused in the August 2017 shooting death of Robert Leachman. who was killed in the 1200 block of Brashear Drive near South 13th Street outside the Parkway Place Housing complex. It was the sixth murder at the housing complex during 2017. Despite being charged with murder, Judge Sean Delahanty allowed Williams to remain on home incarceration after noting that the arrest citation contained no details.
"There is a presumption of innocence fundamental to American society," Delahanty said before granting HIP. "He is presumed to be innocent. Even though he has confessed to shooting him, there are defenses. Perhaps, this death occurred in self defense. I have no idea."
A few days later, Williams was taken back into police custody and held on a $100,000 bond.
For the recent drug bust, Williams, Truss and 35 others were put behind bars. 13 of the suspects are from Louisville.
A few were still on the run until recently.
"They actually arrested — the last person here in Louisville — by the United States Marshal Service, and that organization has basically at this moment been dismantled," Davodowich said.
Here is a list of defendants named in the federal indictments:
- D'Andre Williams, 40, of Adelanto, California
- Elmondo Elliott, 55, of Los Angeles, California
- Desmond Knox, 50, of Menifree, California
- Bobby Douglas, 56, of Lexington, Kentucky
- Brandan Arnold, 42, of Louisville
- Antonio Arnold, 44, of Louisville
- Dwayne Evans, 35, of Louisville
- Antionio Evans, 42, of Louisville
- Tanaja Lee, 23, of Louisville
- Davonte Hoskins, 28, of Louisville
- Jason Salyer, 50, of Louisville
- Rayshawn Spearman Sr., 39, of Louisville
- Rayshawn Spearman Jr., 26, of Louisville
- Melanie Surrell, 45, of Louisville
- Djuan Truss, 42, of Louisville
- Gardner Webb, 31, of Louisville
- Deandre Williams, 27, of Louisville
- Richard Boarman, 48, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Joshua Estap, 40, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Jonathan Hawkins, 43, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Jeramey Hawkins, 46, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Cameron Jackson, 24, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Damone McGuire, 29, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Timothy Roach, 37, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Diana Miranda, 38, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Gregory Nuckols, 61, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Julia Parrish, 53, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Justin Riley, 41, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Timothy Roberts, 46, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Shalonna Slaughters, 57, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Joe Turner, 46, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Tyler Vinson, 32, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Jamie Voyles, 44, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Hope Warsinsky, 39, of Owensboro, Kentucky
- Zachariah Nance, 44, of Utica, Kentucky
- Charles Nelson, 41, of Utica, Kentucky
Davodowich said agents also seized more than $250,000, dozens of guns and 11 vehicles.
If convicted, each of the defendants except Jackson face a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. Jackson faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. All the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.
"They were not part of a gang that we know of,' Davodowich said. "They were tied to Jalisco New Generation Cartel."
At a news conference in April, Alamdar S. Hamdani, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, described the cartel as "one of the most powerful and dangerous criminals in Mexico, characterized by a business model of extreme violence and trafficking in the most deadly of substances."
Davodowich said the Louisville-area bust earlier this year will make a difference in how the cartel operates.
"The cartel is still operating in Mexico, but what it does is take out their network here operating amongst our two states in addition to the organization that was out there in southern Los Angeles," he said.
Davodowich said there's no specific area of Louisville that's more prevalent than another, but affiliates of the cartels are in the area regularly, overseeing transactions.
"We're out there every single day doing the best job we can do," he said.
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