HOUSTON – Eighteen individuals from Texas who are accused of stealing more than $1.5 million worth of narcotics from numerous pharmacies in Arkansas were arrested in Houston on November 28, 2023, following an indictment returned in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The indictment charges are the following: conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute Schedule II through V controlled substances, as well as pharmacy burglary, conspiracy to commit pharmacy burglary, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
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Keith Brown, 34, of Houston, and 17 others were named in this indictment related to “Operation #Richoffmeds.”
From February 2022 to November 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration Little Rock District Office (DEA LRDO) identified more than 20 pharmacy burglaries and thefts of pharmaceutical narcotics in Arkansas. In each of the burglaries, the suspects used similar methods of entry and tools, as well as matching clothing and unique footwear. The stolen pharmaceuticals—including oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam, and promethazine with codeine cough syrup—were transported to Houston, Texas, where they were sold illicitly.
Intelligence developed by the DEA LRDO and the Houston Police Department Northeast Division Crime Suppression Team identified the drug trafficking organization as being documented local gang members from the 5th Ward area.
The current case is similar in kind and scope to a previous case indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas in 2016, in which 24 members of a local Houston 5th Ward gang, ‘The Trill Fam’, were prosecuted for multi-state pharmacy burglaries and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, the release stated.
During the present investigation, over 96,000 tablets of Schedule II controlled substances were stolen. The street value of all controlled substances stolen by the organization in the Arkansas burglaries is valued at close to $1.6 million. Investigators also seized six firearms, approximately $79,000 in U.S. currency, and custom jewelry retailing approximately $330,000.
The defendants arrested include Brown, Antoinen Hampton, 37, Donald Spencer, 34, Marcus Hargrove, 31, Reginald Jackson, 32, Vernon Baloney, Jr., 33, Edwin Burks, 50, Nicklaus Franklin, 31, Louis Johnson, III, 24, Nathan Kibble, 40, Joshua Delaney, 43, Fernando Riascos, Jr., 36, Alexis Garner, 31, Daron Livingston, 32, Jaiden Fowler, 23, Joshua Griffin, 21, Cierra Jackson, 30, and Jasmane Lincoln, 34, all from the greater Houston, Texas area.
The maximum sentence for drug charges is not more than 20 years in federal prison.
An indictment contains only allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.