Murderer indicted in meth trafficking
Tulsa World
TULSA — A federal grand jury has indicted a convicted murderer as the alleged leader of drug trafficking ring that operated in northeast Oklahoma during 2015 and 2016.
The 25-count indictment, unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, alleges Slint Kenneth Tate, while incarcerated at Oklahoma State Penitentiary, used smuggled cellphones to direct others to distribute methamphetamine for him in the Miami, Oklahoma, area from 2015 to 2016.
Tate, 35, is serving a life sentence for the 1999 shooting death of Vernie Milford Roberts, a Delaware County reserve sheriff’s deputy.
The indictment also names six others in connection with the alleged conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine: Robin Tracy Zumwalt, also known as Robin Tate; Rachael Georgia Danley; Ashton Chase Manicom; Jeremy Dallas Mann; Matthew Stroud; and Todd Allen Pryer, also known as Toddy Pryor.
The indictment charges all seven with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
All with the exception of Tate were initially charged in state court in connection with the drug trafficking ring.
District Attorney Kenny Wright in May 2016 announced that investigators had uncovered a large methamphetamine drug ring that had been operating out of the Miami area.
Wright charged 28 individuals in connection with the investigation, which featured hundreds of hours of recordings and text messages that were gathered via a court-ordered wiretap of telephones smuggled to Tate.
Wright said he did not charge Tate in state court, in part because he was already serving a life-without-parole sentence.
Among the charges, the indictment alleges Mann and two unindicted coconspirators at the direction of Tate sold about 27 grams of methamphetamine to an undercover agent on Jan. 14, 2016.
The two unindicted coconspirators and another unindicted co-conspirator, at Tate’s direction, sold about 113 grams of meth to an undercover agent on Jan. 26, 2016, records show.
On April 27, 2016, Tate directed another unindicted co-conspirator to transport about 444 grams of meth and 2,800 grams of marijuana from outside of Oklahoma and through Kansas for distribution in Oklahoma, according to the indictment.
The indictment claims Zumwalt stored drugs, paraphernalia, drug proceeds, guns and other property used in drug transactions on behalf of the drug trafficking organization.