Major meth trafficking ring busted

83 pounds of drugs with street value of up to $3.7M seized

Montgomery County authorities dismantled a multi-state crystal methamphetamine trafficking organization, seizing 83 pounds of the drug with a street value of up to $3.7 million, and rounded up five alleged ringleaders including men from King of Prussia, Exton and East Lansdowne.

District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, said the five leaders of the drug trafficking organization were arrested on March 15 during a vast sweep by law enforcement authorities. They are: Joshua Quiles, 31, of the 600 block of South Goddard Boulevard, King of Prussia; Jhamir H. Winans, 21, of the 100 block of North Pottstown Pike, Exton; Tyrone P. Baker, 29, of the unit block of Melrose Avenue, East Lansdowne, Delaware County; Shakeem M. Johnson, 27, of the 4600 block of East Flat Rock Road, Philadelphia; and Ricky R. Evans, 28, of Los Angeles, Calif.

“Drug traffickers need to know that law enforcement in this area is committed to stopping the flow of all illegal drugs in Montgomery County — whether that poison is significant quantities of methamphetamine, heroin/fentanyl or other drugs,” Steele said. “The investigation resulting in these five arrests shut off a significant pipeline for methamphetamine to the entire Southeastern Pennsylvania region, and our communities are safer for it.”

Each defendant is charged with more than 100 felony counts of corrupt organizations, conspiracy, possession with intent to deliver controlled substances, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, criminal use of a communication facility and other related charges.

The defendants were arraigned before district court judges Maurice H. Saylor and Edward Levine and bail amounts were set at between $1 million and $3 million. All of the defendants were remanded to the county jail after they couldn’t post the bail amounts.

A preliminary hearing for the defendants is scheduled for 8 a.m. May 11 before District Court Judge Patrick O. Krouse.

Among those joining Steele at the news conference were Lower Merion Township Police Superintendent Michael J. McGrath, Upper Merion Township Police Chief Thomas Nolan, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, Damon Wood, U.S. Postal Inspection Service postal inspector, and William S. Walker, Homeland Security Investigations acting special agent in Philadelphia.

Steele alleged the drug trafficking organization was supplying the Southeastern Pennsylvania region and beyond with methamphetamine, which was shipped from Los Angeles to the leaders of the group in the Philadelphia area. Investigators alleged the drug trafficking organization is believed to have been responsible for the distribution of approximately 800 pounds of crystal methamphetamine since 2019, as well as the trafficking of other illegal drugs, including fentanyl and oxycodone.

The 83 pounds of crystal methamphetamine that was seized, if sold as single doses on the street, is worth between $2.6 million and $3.7 million, detectives alleged.

Authorities said methamphetamine is a strong and highly addictive drug that affects the central nervous system and can cause rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure and damage to small blood vessels in the brain. The drug is commonly abused because of the long-lasting euphoric effects it produces on the human body, according to authorities.

“The people that are on it do terrible things,” Steele said. “People that are using this drug…are a danger to our community. We’ve had numerous examples of people under the influence of methamphetamine being dangerous to other people and being dangerous to law enforcement.”

Steele displayed some of the crystal methamphetamine, “the deadly and cheap drug that is flooding our streets,” and numerous guns that were seized during the investigation.

“It is not the methamphetamine of the days gone by, the myth that meth was being produced by biker gangs in a bathtub out in the woods. Nowadays meth is made in high-tech super labs in Mexico that produce very high quality, potent methamphetamine very cheaply and those pounds and pounds of meth are smuggled into the United States and distributed all over our country,” Steele said.

The investigation involved physical surveillance, search warrants, electronic surveillance, GPS tracking, cellphone data analysis and court ordered wiretaps, according to court papers.

“This is an incredibly big and complex drug investigation that took a long time to put together, a lot of different agencies working collaboratively. What you see before you is poison that has been killing people throughout our region and weapons of war that are used to protect this criminal enterprise,” said Stollsteimer, referring to the drugs and guns displayed during the news conference.

The investigation of the drug trafficking organization began with the arrest of alleged drug trafficker Chase Smith, 29, of Upper Darby, in March 2021 after Smith allegedly sold more than two pounds of methamphetamine to an undercover officer in Lower Merion. Law enforcement then learned that Smith was part of a large-scale methamphetamine drug trafficking organization that supplied not only Montgomery County and the Philadelphia area, but also reached into New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia.

The investigation revealed Baker, Quiles, Winans, Johnson and others connected to the drug trafficking organization were acquiring large quantities of methamphetamine from supplier Evans in Los Angeles. The drugs were shipped by Evans to the four defendants and others involved in the conspiracy, via the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and UPS from different post office locations, UPS Stores and other shipping stores, Steele alleged.

Various amounts of money were exchanged from the four Philadelphiaarea defendants to Evans to pay for the methamphetamine he sent to the group, primarily, through the cellphone application CashApp. From March 2021 to March 2022, more than $86,000 was sent to Evans by the four other defendants using CashApp, Steele alleged.

During the course of the investigation, it was learned of a parallel investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations, which identified 91 packages shipped between October 2019 and December 2021 that matched the pattern associated with this drug trafficking organization with mailing or a return address in the Los Angeles and Philadelphia areas. Fifteen of the 91 packages were seized by law enforcement, and all contained methamphetamine, totaling approximately 60 pounds, according to authorities.

Multiple search warrants were executed in Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia counties, as well as Camden County, N.J., Clarksburg, W.Va. and Los Angeles, Calif.

In addition to the 83 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, authorities seized 200 baggies of fentanyl, 100 oxycodone pills, 17 handguns and eight longguns, including one so-called “Ghost gun” and approximately $135,000 in cash.

“We don’t have to look far to see the destruction that illegal narcotics have on our communities. While law enforcement won’t solve the ills of illegal narcotics alone, law enforcement agencies working together is how law enforcement will maximize its effectiveness in the fight against illegal narcotics,” Wood said.

“Deadly drugs like those seized during this case continue to destroy lives and ravage communities. Too many families have been touched by the tragic consequences of addiction and overdose,” Walker added.

The investigation was led by the Montgomery County Detective Bureau in conjunction with the United States Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistance was provided by the Delaware County Criminal Investigations Division; Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Southeast Strike Force; Drug Enforcement Agency groups in Philadelphia and Los Angeles; Upper Merion Police Department; Lower Merion Police Department; Upper Darby Police Department; Philadelphia Police Department; Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General; and authorities in Camden County, N.J., and Harrison County, W. Va.