Indictment charges 22 in meth ring; 10 nabbed

An indictment unsealed Wednesday charges 22 people with taking part in a methamphetamine-sales ring out of Craighead County.

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A federal grand jury originally indicted two of the defendants -- Jesus Cisneros and Jerry Wood -- on June 4, but prosecutors came back with additional charges and defendants. The grand jury on Oct. 8 handed up the newest indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday.

Authorities arrested 10 of the suspects early Wednesday, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office of the Eastern District of Arkansas.

From January 2013 to September, the 22 people -- including Marcus Roe and Thomas Roger Winford -- are accused of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute at least 17.5 ounces of a substance containing methamphetamine, according to the 43-count indictment.

On at least two occasions, another defendant -- Roger Eugene Thorn -- distributed more than 1.75 ounces of methamphetamine each, and one time, he disbursed more than 0.18 ounce, according to the court documents. David Jarrod Fields was the only other defendant to be charged with distributing more than 1.75 ounces of a substance containing methamphetamine.

Prosecutors charged Cisneros, Wood, Vidal Almonte-Cervantes and Joseph Allen Farrell with possession with intent to distribute more than 1.75 ounces of methamphetamine.

Twenty defendants -- including Jorge Cervantes, Kristopher Michael Anstiss, Brittni Nicole Brown, Angelica Chavez, Brandy Waynett Clark, Bradley Frank Covington, Elizabeth Gail Friar, Ronald "Skip" Gallow Jr., Sherry Lynn Lancaster, Adam Lee McClung, Lyle Lance Okamoto, Arty Russ Porter, Wesley Kevin Stuart and Megan Brittney Turner -- used a communication facility, a telephone, to further a drug-trafficking crime, prosecutors said. Roe and Winford were the only two not named in this count.

Wood and Cisneros are facing additional drug conspiracy and aiding and abetting drug possession charges.

During the course of the investigation, authorities seized about 96 pounds of methamphetamine, the news release states. The investigation began in early 2013 after federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents learned Farrell, whom they described as a "large-scale methamphetamine dealer," was selling up to 15 pounds of the drug per week in the Jonesboro area, the release states.

Farrell had supply sources in Blytheville and San Jose, Calif., from where he would occasionally receive FedEx shipments of the drug, authorities said. Authorities also have made arrests in California and Michigan, the release states.

Wood is scheduled for a plea and arraignment hearing today.

Metro on 10/16/2014

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