Two defendants in a large-scale cocaine distribution case were found guilty Friday after a federal trial held in Lynchburg.
Charay Lamont Trent, of Lynchburg, and Ricky Donnell Abner, of Charlotte, North Carolina, were found guilty by a jury for their involvement in a drug ring that trafficked cocaine from Texas to North Carolina and Lynchburg.
Trent was charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, five additional counts of distribution of cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Abner was charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
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“Today is a very important day here at the federal courthouse in Lynchburg,” said Chris Kavanaugh, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, during a news conference outside the court building.
“For the last three years, my office … has been dedicated to dismantling the organization that is primarily responsible and is the primary supplier of narcotics here to the Central Virginia area, including the City of Lynchburg.”
Kavanaugh said the operation had been called “Operation Storey Time,” named after the leader of the organization, Jeremel Storey, who previously pleaded guilty and is facing 25 to 30 years in prison, according to Kavanaugh.
Storey, a New York native, moved to Lynchburg and was active in the drug scene from 2000 to 2013, Kavanaugh said.
“In 2013, [Storey] moved south to Charlotte, North Carolina where he led an organization that was primarily responsible for the presence of narcotics here in Central Virginia,” he said.
Kavanaugh said the organization had 25 members and “pumped hundreds of kilograms of narcotics into our communities here in Virginia.”
Friday’s convictions of Abner and Trent were the 24th and 25th convictions of those members, while 22 defendants previously pleaded guilty, and another member was found guilty recently, according to Kavanaugh.
Abner, according to Kavanaugh, was Storey’s number two in the organization, lived in Charlotte and had a stash house for the drugs that supplied the organization.
Lynchburg’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison called the verdict a “great outcome,” saying they “put away this criminal enterprise of people who were dealing drugs from state to state and in our community.
“The ripple effects of their criminal activity are felt by the many members of our community who suffer from addiction to the poison that they spread throughout our community,” Harrison said.
“By rounding up this number of co-conspirators,” Harrison said, “… this represents safety for our community.”
Lynchburg Police Chief Ryan Zuidema said the department had been dealing with the conspirators in this case for 20 years, calling them “career criminals” and saying they “put the safety of our citizens and residents here in jeopardy for far too long.”
Zuidema said the partnerships between federal agencies and local agencies “yield the results we see here today.”
Charlie Patterson, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Washington Field Division, said the verdict shows the investigation into firearm-related activity remains a “key focus for ATF and our law enforcement partners.”
“This criminal activity is unacceptable and will continue to be addressed accordingly,” Patterson added.
According to Kavanaugh, Storey and the other defendants are set to be sentenced later this year.
“I hope this sends a very clear message,” Zuidema said, “to those folks in our community that think they are going to participate in violent crime or drug crime, that we will find you, we will track you down and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
