1 more pleads guilty in marijuana ring
Federal drug conspiracy trial set to start Tuesday for last three defendants
A drug conspiracy trial for an Arkansas rap artist and others accused of drug trafficking is set to begin Tuesday morning with three defendants after two more people were removed from the defendant lineup this week.
Donnell Lakeith Reed, 50, of Alexander, one of 35 people — including Arkansas rap artist Freddie “Bankroll Freddie” Gladney III — charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count on Thursday before Chief U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker and faces a possible maximum prison term of 40 years when he returns for sentencing later this year.
In exchange for his plea, the communications facility count as well as a drug conspiracy count contained in a separate, but related, indictment, were dismissed.
The indictments grew out of FBI investigations into the activities of two rival street gangs — EBK, or, “Every Body Killas” and “Lodi Murder Mobb,” both of which operate in and around Central Arkansas and are believed by law enforcement to be responsible for drug trafficking and violent crimes around the state. Reed was one of three defendants named in both indictments, along with Nicholas Rogers, 30, and Deandre “Gamble” Gates, 28, both of Pine Bluff.
On Aug. 4, 2023, Gates pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime before U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr., the presiding judge over the EBK indictment.
In exchange, the remaining charges contained in that indictment and all charges in the Lodi Murder Mobb indictment against Gates were dismissed.
On March 20, Rogers pleaded guilty to one count of drug conspiracy contained in the EBK indictment and to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm that is contained in a separate, unrelated indictment, in exchange for the dismissal of the remaining counts against him contained in the EBK indictment and all of the counts against him contained in the Lodi Murder Mobb indictment.
On Wednesday, prosecutors filed a motion in the EBK case to dismiss a drug conspiracy count against Marquis Hunt, 41, of Little Rock, and to sever his case from those of his three remaining co-defendants, Gladney III, 29, of Jonesboro; Marcus Hughes, 47, of Helena-West Helena; and Hershel Jones, 56, of Little Rock.
The same day, Moody granted the motion, which removed Hunt from the case to be prosecuted separately, leaving only Gladney III, Hughes and Jones left to begin trial on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Reed was escorted into the courtroom by U.S. marshals and seated with his attorney, Jay Paul Coleman of Little Rock. Assistant U.S. Attorney Liza Brown, representing the government, stood in at the hearing for Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Peters and Amanda Fields, both of whom were preparing for the start of Tuesday’s trial.
Brown said that Reed’s involvement began around March of 2021 and ended with the issuance of the indictments in November 2022. She said for the purpose of calculating his advisory guideline sentencing range, the amount of marijuana attributable to Reed was more than 100 but less than 400 kilograms of the drug, exposing him to a potential statutory sentence ranging from 5 years to 40 years in prison, a maximum fine of $5 million, and 5 years to life on supervised release.
As part of his agreement, she said, Reed had agreed to forfeit to the government a watch, bracelet, earrings, chains, a pendant, and $62,308 in cash.
Brown said Reed admitted to conspiring with lead defendant Anthony Rogers and others to distribute marijuana, and she said he was intercepted a number of times on wiretaps placed on Rogers’ phone in August and September of 2021 in which the two discussed buying and selling large quantities of marijuana.
In one such conversation, which took place on Aug. 28, 2021, at about 6:45 p.m., Brown said that Rogers told Reed his supplier had 10,000 pounds of marijuana in inventory, to which Reed asked about acquiring some for a price low enough for him to undercut the prices ranging from $1,800 to $1,900 a pound that marijuana was selling for at that time.
“The defendant told Rogers it would be no problem to sell the marijuana as long as the quality was good,” Brown said. “Rogers told the defendant the price was higher in Little Rock than it was out there in California because the supplier had to invest more to ship it to Arkansas.”
Brown said that earlier that year, on May 13, 2021, a confidential source contacted Cavin “Kelbo” Johnson, 44, of Little Rock, to buy counterfeit pills containing fentanyl from Rogers. During that exchange, which was overheard because of a wiretap on Johnson’s phone, she said another team of investigators simultaneously observed Rogers meeting with Reed, who she said handed Rogers a bag containing 500 fentanyl pills, which Rogers subsequently handed off to the confidential source. Afterward, she said, agents tailed Reed to a storage facility where she said he transferred a box from his truck to another vehicle.
As he left the facility, she said, Reed was stopped by Little Rock police and a search of his vehicle turned up two marijuana cigarettes, $1,888 on Reed’s person, and a box containing $60,420 in cash that was addressed to Reed’s California marijuana source.
She said police also searched Reed’s home and several more storage facilities that he used and recovered an additional 83 kilograms of marijuana, 938 grams of suspected K2, and several items of jewelry.
Following Brown’s recitation of the plea facts, Reed, acknowledging that the allegations against him could be proven by the government, pleaded guilty to the charge.
Baker said that the U.S. Probation Office in Little Rock would have 90 days to compile a pre-sentence investigation report and submit it to the court, after which, she said, a sentencing date will be set.
Donnell Lakeith Reed, 50, of Alexander, one of 35 people — including Arkansas rap artist Freddie “Bankroll Freddie” Gladney III — charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count on Thursday before Chief U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker and faces a possible maximum prison term of 40 years when he returns for sentencing later this year.