Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who handled the
case, stated that Washington was a distributor in a large-scale opioid
manufacturing and trafficking organization in the Southern Tier of New York and
northern Pennsylvania between 2015 and May 2017. As part of the conspiracy, the
leaders of the organization, Robert Ian Thatcher and Maximillian Sams, imported
bulk quantities of furanyl fentanyl, acetyl fentantyl, andU-47700 from overseas
suppliers China. They ordered the drugs on what is known as “the dark web,” and
used different people and addresses in New York and Pennsylvania to receive the
shipments. Thatcher and Sams purchased equipment and materials – including pill
presses/mechanical tableting machines, microcrystalline cellulose, lactose
magnesium stearate, and powdered food coloring – which they used to manufacture
tens of thousands blue pills containing furanyl fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl and
U-47700. The pills were made to look like legitimate 15 milligram and 30
milligram Percocet pills.
At least two individuals – a 21-year-old female, and a 25-year-old
male – died after ingesting the blue pills containing furanyl fentanyl and
U-47700. In addition, at least one individual overdosed on more than one
occasion after using the blue pills manufactured and distributed by the
organization, but survived after being treated by first responders with Narcan.
Thatcher and Sams used residences at 604 South Lehigh Avenue
in Sayre, Pennsylvania, and 665 Sawdey Road in Catlin, NY, to manufacture and
process the pills for distribution. During the execution of a search warrant at
the Sayre location on May 16, 2017, law enforcement agents recovered, among
other things, 244 blue pills containing furanyl fentanyl, four long guns and
ammunition. In addition, during the execution of a search warrant at the Catlin
location on May 18, 2017, law enforcement agents recovered, among other things,
materials used by Thatcher and Sams to manufacture the pills for distribution.
During the conspiracy, Thatcher also possessed several firearms at the
Pennsylvania location and his residence in Elmira.
After manufacturing the pills, Thatcher and Sams would
distribute them in large quantities to other co-conspirators – including
Washington, Jesus Rivera, Anthony Prettyman, and Dwayne Banks, a/k/a Fizzle,
a/k/a Fizz – who would then distribute the pills to various street-level
customers in the Elmira area.
Sams also supplied pills to an individual in the Charlotte,
North Carolina area. As part of the conspiracy, Sams used co-conspirator
Anthony Prettyman to transport 5,330 bluepills containing furanyl fentanyl from
Elmira to North Carolina in October 2016. On October 25, 2016, in North
Carolina, deputies with the Iredell County (NC) Sheriff’s Office conducted a
traffic stop of the vehicle in which Prettyman was traveling. Duringa
subsequent search, the deputies recovered and seized a paint can with a false
bottom containing the 5,330 blue pills from inside Prettyman’s vehicle.
In early 2017, Thatcher arranged for a package of furanyl
fentanyl, that he ordered over the dark web, to be sent to Carlito Rios, Jr. On
March 13, 2017, Customs and Border Protection officers at the John F. Kennedy
International Airport Mail Branch in Queens, NY, examined a United States
Postal Service package addressed to co-conspirator Rios at 1015 Oak Street in
Elmira. The sender was listed as an entity in China. Upon inspection, the
package was found to contain approximately 249 grams of furanyl fentanyl. Sams
and Thatcher intended to use the seized furanyl fentanyl to manufacture and
distribute additional quantities of the blue pills. As part of the conspiracy,
Rios agreed to accept the package of furanyl fentanyl for Thatcher.
On August 1, 2017, Washington was arrested in Georgia. While in federal custody in Ohio, Washington
assaulted an inmate who had been cooperating with the Drug Enforcement Administration
in this investigation. Specifically,
Washington struck the inmate in the head with closed fists, threw a cup at the
inmate, and struck the inmate in the face with the cup. Washington assaulted the inmate in
retaliation for the inmate’s cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration
in the investigation of Washington and several associates, including Thatcher,
Sams, Banks and Rios.
In total, 16 members and associates of the opioid
manufacturing and trafficking operation have been convicted of federal
narcotics offenses and sentenced. The other members of the organization were
sentenced as follows:
· Thatcher was
sentenced to serve 23 years in federal prison;
· Sams was
sentenced to 210 months in federal prison;
· Prettyman was
sentenced to 125 months in federal prison;
· Banks was
sentenced to 108 months in federal prison;
· Rivera was
sentenced to 108 months in federal prison;
· Thatcher’s
girlfriend, Amber Bates, who was convicted of money laundering conspiracy, was
sentenced to five years’ probation to include six months of home detention;
· Robert J.
Elford was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison;
· Edward
Barrett was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison;
· Scott
Fairbanks was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison;
· Dusty
Pemberton was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison;
· Deven Hill
was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison,
· Chad Smith
was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison;
· Jordan Jones
was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison;
· Carlito Rios,
Jr., was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release; and
· Isaiah
McLaurin, who was convicted of witness tampering after threatening an
individual working with the Drug Enforcement Administration on Facebook, was
sentenced to serve 57 months in federal prison.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Drug
Enforcement Administration, Rochester Resident Office and Scranton PA Resident
Office, under the directionof Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan, New York
Field Division; the New York State Police, Community Narcotics Enforcement Team
Southern Tier, under the direction of Major Mary Clark and Lieutenant Kevin P.
Sucher; the Elmira Police Department, under thedirection of Chief Joseph Kane;
Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special
Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, New
York FieldDivision; the Pennsylvania State Police, under the direction of
Acting Commissioner Lieutenant Colonel Robert Evanchick; the Chemung County
Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Christopher J. Moss; the Iredell, NC
County Sheriff’s Office, under the directionof Darren E. Campbell, and Customs
and Border Protection Air and Marine Unit, under the direction of Director
Brian Manaher. Additional assistance was provided by the Northeast Regional
Laboratory.
