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Press Release

Five Defendants Sentenced for Trafficking Large Quantities of Oxycodone throughout Kentucky

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky

Lexington, Ky- Five defendants, who previously admitted to conspiring to distribute thousands of oxycodone pills throughout Richmond, Kentucky and surrounding areas, were sentenced this week.  

U.S. District Court Judge Karen Caldwell sentenced, Malik Chapman, Douglas Mayfield, Ryan Jones, Victoria Grimes, and Alyssa Parrish to 84 months, 40 months, 40 months, 18 months, and 18 months respectively. Four other defendants involved in the case, Patsy Wardle, Shannon Allen, Bianca Pennington, and Robert May, were previously sentenced in August to 148 months, 72 months, 41 months, and 40 months, respectively. 

According to plea agreements and trial evidence, Malik Chapman, Shannon Allen, Bianca Pennington, Patsy Wardle, and others, worked together to distribute oxycodone throughout Richmond, Kentucky and surrounding areas. Chapman, assisted by Grimes and Parrish, was responsible for transporting oxycodone pills from Detroit, Michigan to Richmond, Kentucky, where Allen and Pennington would further distribute the pills to local drug dealers, like Wardle, May, Mayfield, and Jones. Wardle also acted a source of supply for Allen at times. 

Under federal law, the defendants must serve 85 percent of their prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 3 years.

“The distribution of opioids, such as oxycodone pills, remains a significant issue in central Kentucky, particularly in Madison County,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “Our Office is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to hold opioid traffickers, like these defendants, accountable for their criminal conduct. I commend the hard work and cooperation of federal, state, and local law enforcement in dismantling a significant, multi-state drug trafficking operation that was responsible for the distribution of thousands of oxycodone pills in Madison County and elsewhere in our region.”           

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Daniel D. Dodds, Acting Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Louisville Field Division; Commissioner Richard Sanders, Kentucky State Police; Chief James Ebert, Richmond Police Department; Sheriff Mike Coyle, Madison County Sheriff’s Department; and Chief David Gregory, Berea Police Department jointly announced the sentences.

The investigation was conducted by DEA, Richmond Police Department, and Appalachian HIDTA Madison County Drug task Force. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Tanner Bradley and Paco Villalobos.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The PSN program was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

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Contact

CONTACT: Gabrielle Dudgeon
PHONE: (859) 685-4843
E-MAIL: gabrielle.dudgeon@usdoj.gov

Updated October 4, 2019

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Opioids