Aryan Brotherhood associate agrees to plead guilty to prison drug smuggling conspiracy

FRESNO >> A man authorities have listed as an associate of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang has admitted to a role in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs inside a state prison, court records show.

In a plea agreement form he signed, Todd Morgan admitted that in September 2020 he and others hatched a plan to smuggle methamphetamine and heroin inside Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, where Morgan was incarcerated. Morgan was not required to name co-conspirators or admit to gang activity as part of the agreement, which was finalized in court on Wednesday.

As part of Morgan's plot, co-conspirators on the outside attempted to sneak onto prison grounds at night and throw footballs and soccer balls filled with drugs over a security fence, but they were unable to do so, according to authorities.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors will seek a “lowend” term, though the charge carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence.

Morgan will become the second man to plead guilty to a federal offense, less than a year after federal and state authorities rounded up more than 100 people in Operation Lucky Charm, an investigation aimed at the Aryan Brotherhood and Fresnecks gangs.

On Thursday, one of Morgan's co-defendants, James Armstrong, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Aryan Brotherhood associate Kenneth Bash — also incarcerated at Salinas Valley — to receive and distribute seven pounds of methamphetamine, about two ounces of which he shipped to Alaska, court records show.

Armstrong is to be sentenced in January.