‘West Virginia is not a haven for drug dealers’: Local residents indicted in Detroit drug ring

MORGANTOWN - Matthew L. Harvey didn't parse words during his remarks Thursday.

"The people are not misguided," he said. "They are not 'accidental' criminals. They are predators."

Harvey, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, was speaking generally on Thursday about a conduit of one-way commerce lethally linking the Motor City of Detroit to the Mountain State of West Virginia.

Specifically, though, he was at the Erickson Alumni Center of the state's flagship university on the rainy morning to announce the takedown of an extensive drug trafficking and money laundering operation related to all of the above.

One which had tendrils running from Detroit to Parkersburg - and then Morgantown to the state of Mississippi.

Several local residents are among the 28 named in the 114-count indictment, just unsealed, which alleges Brendan Bragg, 32, of Detroit, as the chief overseer of the illicit network.

Along with Bragg, those indicted were:

Treasure Wooten, 34, of Detroit

Ezavin Blue, 31, of Detroit

Vincent Hill, 38, of Detroit

Austin Hudson, 29, of Morgantown

Frank McKinney, 27, of Highland Park, Mich.

Stewart Jenkins, 54, of Detroit

Zaire Adams, 25, of Detroit

Adam McCullough,26, of Cleveland, Miss.

Khorie Morris, 27, of Morgantown

Lance Harris, 33, of Detroit

Kayla Ashley, 31, of Morgantown

Cathy Jo Riffle, 32, of Westover

Ashley Flowers, 49, of Westover

Rebecca Fletcher, 34, of Morgantown

Brian Willard, 49, of Fairview

Isabella Rexroad, 29, of Parkersburg

Keanna Phillips, 29, of Berkley, Mich.

Alexis King, 44, of Morgantown

Jeffrey Turner, 31, of Morgantown

Darlene Dodson, 46, of Morgantown

Valerie Smith, 37, of Morgantown

Cody Lockhart, 38, of Wallace

Lori Murphy, 37, of Morgantown

Latisha Kelly, 47, of Morgantown

Brianna Turner, 28, of Reedsville

Brian Turner, 63, of Reedsville

A person under indictment, Harvey said, is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The two-year investigation, meanwhile, netted more than eight pounds of methamphetamine and close to two pounds of fentanyl and fentanyl mixtures, Harvey said.

More than a half-pound of cocaine was also seized, along with $21,906 in cash. Ten firearms, with ammunition, were also nabbed.

Local police departments across north-central West Virginia and Michigan assisted in the investigation, which was led by the federal Homeland Security Task Force, Harvey said.

Other federal agencies too, he said, including the FBI.

Harvey appreciated the police work that went into the investigation, he said.

"The pipeline has been shut down," he said. "Permanently."

At least this part of the pipeline.

For now.

North-central West Virginia is still prime real estate for those in Detroit making their money off illegal drugs, Harvey said.

"They think we're a soft market," he said.

LaShawn Monroe found out otherwise this past June, however, thanks to a similar operation in scope, Harvey said.

Monroe, 31, a Detroit native who maintained residences in Morgantown and Fairmont, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a ring that would have put 24 pounds of fentanyl on the streets here.

Fentanyl, in its medicinal, prescription form, is already 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.

"It sends a clear message," Harvey said, of such legal outcomes.

"West Virginia is not a haven for drug dealers. We will prosecute those charged and hold them accountable."

Detroit is still daunting though, as Harvey and other law enforcement officials ruefully say.

That's because, they said, there's still plenty of Motor City representation of the not-good kind to go around in the Mountain State - despite what might come down in a courtroom in front of a judge.

Brandon Vaughan, 34, of Detroit, remains lodged in the North Central Regional Jail after being charged in the slaying of a man early Sunday morning in Fairmont.