WICHITA, KAN. – A 55-count federal indictment with 24 defendants unsealed here today alleges that an inmate ran a drug ring in Wichita from a prison cell in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.
McAllister said federal agents began investigating in April 2019 and reviewed thousands of intercepted messages among the alleged traffickers.
"A large scale criminal drug conspiracy operating in Kansas whose shot caller is behind bars in another state talking on a cell phone makes this a unique case in my experience," McAllister said. "To the alleged traffickers, I think I would say: Can you hear us now?"
The indictment contains detailed descriptions of defendants going about their daily chores, negotiating prices, handling hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and trying to do business without drawing attention.
"Today's arrests and indictments send a clear message: whether you are behind bars or on the street, you will be held accountable. Today, over a 100 federal, state and local officers, working together executed dozens of arrests. The impact of these arrests will be immediate, and our community will be safer due largely in part to the tireless work and dedication of our law enforcement partners. I applaud their dedication and commitment to the community we are sworn to serve," said Timothy Langan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Kansas City, Missouri.
Travis Knighten, 47, who is being held at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla., is alleged to have been the brains behind a criminal organization that distributed methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine powder, crack cocaine and marijuana in Wichita.
Communicating by cell phone calls and text messages, Knighten is alleged to have directed the movements of almost two dozen conspirators. The indictment alleges Knighten used cell phones obtained while in custody to receive information and to coordinate times and locations for meetings with suppliers. Knighten put together deals with the assistance of a co-defendant who also is an inmate in the same prison, Armando Luna, 39. Knighten also worked with a treasurer outside the prison walls, co-defendant Travis Vontress, 43, Wichita, Kan., as well as other close associates who collected funds to pay suppliers. Lower ranking conspirators were responsible for maintaining stash houses, cutting, packaging and storing drugs, reselling the final products and other duties.
Although Knighten is being held in Oklahoma, he is still under the authority of the Kansas Department of Corrections. He is serving a 90-year sentence for killing a corrections officer at Lansing Correctional Facility on May 22, 1993. The victim, Officer Mark Avery, died of head injuries received during a fight in the prison recreation building.
In text messages and in phone calls, Knighten and the co-conspirators avoided using words that anyone overhearing them might too easily recognize. They used a variety of slang terms instead. For instance, they might call methamphetamine "ice hockey." Heroin could be called "Jordan." Cocaine could be "soda." Sometimes crack cocaine was "hard" and "gorilla" could be the word for marijuana.
During the conspiracy, many of the co-defendants were known to one another by their street names instead of their given names. Examples include Bizz, P-Boy, E, Booty, YT, Troub, Diablo, Wack, Shot, Leggs, Gray, Bink, Funk, Godfather and Punch.
The conspirators are alleged to have maintained five properties in Wichita as stash houses for processing and storing drugs, including 930 N. Yale, 2548 Somerset, 245 N. Chautauqua, 1411 N. Holyoke and 429 N. Green.