MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Thirty “high- to mid-level” drug dealers were indicted after a six-month long investigation by the Memphis Police Department Organized Crime Unit.
The indictments by Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich accuse 22 men and 8 women of four felony counts each involving the sale and distribution of heroin and fentanyl in a drug-free school zone in the Memphis area.
All charges are A-level felonies, and each carries 15 to 25 years in prison without parole, a release from Weirich’s office said.
On Thursday, WREG obtained a copy of the indictment, which included several of the defendants’ names. They include Darius Chalmers, Decarlos Rodgers, Entonyo Chalmers, John Williams, Bobby Jones, Marquez Hurt, Desmond Price, Darqeisha Shaw, Malcom Ross, Zachary Rogers, Blake Owens, Phillip Orman and Jameisha Watson.
Other names listed on the indictments had been blurred out until their arrest.
Each defendant faces the following charges.
- Conspiracy to commit unlawful possession of a controlled substance 150 grams or more to sell in a drug-free school zone.
- Conspiracy to commit unlawful possession of a controlled substance 150 grams or more to deliver in a drug free school zone.
- Conspiracy to commit unlawful possession of a controlled substance 2,000 grams or more to sell in a drug free school zone.
- Conspiracy to commit unlawful possession of a controlled substance 2,000 grams or more to deliver in a drug free school zone.
The defendants were circulating about a half kilogram (1.1 pounds) of heroin and fentanyl per week in the Memphis and North Mississippi area, investigators said.