Four Southeast Texans Guilty Of Federal Racketeering Crimes

 BEAUMONT, Texas – A 49-year-old Hull, Texas, woman has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to her association with a “white’s only” criminal enterprise that engaged in methamphetamine distribution and murder in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Vicki Stark-Fitts pleaded guilty to participating in a pattern of racketeering activity that included conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and murder today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Giblin.

  Kenny Don Stanley, 25, of Vidor, Texas, Tanner Lynn Bourque, a/k/a “Two Shoes,” a/k/a “Hitman,” 33, of Port Arthur, Texas, and Kristopher Leigh Guidry, a/k/a “Hollywood,” 28, each pleaded guilty to murder in aid of the racketeering activity earlier this summer.   

The four were charged in a seven-count superseding indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury on Aug. 7, 2013.  The indictment is the latest in a series of Eastern District prosecutions targeting members and associates of the SWS and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT).

According to the indictment, the SWS is a race-based organization operating inside and outside of jails and prisons in Texas and elsewhere.  SWS was founded during the 1990s by inmates within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. SWS is also known as “Solid Wood Soldiers” and “Separate White State.” Although the founders established SWS for protection of white inmates and advancement of white supremacy and white separatism, SWS expanded its objectives to include illegal activities for profit, including trafficking methamphetamine and firearms.  SWS protects its power, territory, and profits through intimidation and violence, including assaults, robbery, and murder.  From September 2010 to January 2011, Bourque, Guidry and other SWS members manufactured “shake and bake” methamphetamine for distribution in the Orange County area of Texas.  In February 2011, Bourque, Guidry and other SWS members became closely associated with Stark-Fitts, who supplied them with crystal methamphetamine and firearms. Crystal methamphetamine is a purer form of methamphetamine that is imported from Mexico.

According to information presented in court, on Mar. 11, 2011, while SWS member James Lee Sedtal, a/k/a “Lil Bit,” was delivering methamphetamine in Orange County, Sedtal used one of Stark-Fitts’s guns to shoot and wound an ABT associate.  ABT is a criminal gang operating in the Orange County area of Texas and elsewhere that wielded supremacy over SWS in Orange County.  During the early morning hours of Mar. 14, 2011, Stanley shot and killed Sedtal at Stark-Fitts’s residence in Liberty County, Texas. Bourque had ordered Stanley to kill Sedtal to prevent ABT from retaliating against SWS for Sedtal’s shooting of the ABT associate. Later that morning, Bourque, Stark-Fitts, Guidry, and Stanley drove to a deserted logging trail in Hardin County where they disposed of Sedtal’s body.  Sedtal’s body was recovered on March 23, 2011, after a man phoned 911 to report his discovery of human remains inside a burned car.

Stanley, Bourque, Guidry each pleaded guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. 1959(a)(1), murder in aid of racketeering.  In connection with their pleas, Bourque, Guidry, and Stanley admitted that they sought to maintain and increase their position within SWS by murdering Sedtal.  Bourque, Guidry, and Stanley face a punishment of life imprisonment.  Stark-Fitts pleaded guilty to a violation of 18 U.S.C. 1962(c), RICO, and faces up to life imprisonment.  The indictment charged all twelve defendants with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846.  If convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine as charged, the remaining defendants face a punishment range of 10 years to life imprisonment. 
This case is being prosecuted as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Time Machine Initiative. Time Machine is aimed at reducing gun and gang violence, deterring illegal possession of guns, ammunition and body armor, and improving the safety of residents in the Eastern District of Texas. Participants in the initiative include community members and organizations as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

The case is being investigated by the ATF, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Bureau of Prisons, DEA, Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety CID, Texas Department of Criminal Justice OIG, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Tyler County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and Beaumont Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ross.