Thirteen Members Of Drug Trafficking Organization Plead Guilty To Federal Drug Crimes

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that thirteen members of a drug trafficking organization pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and other federal drug crimes.

Heath Lloyd Taylor, age 45, Aaron Guy Key, age 46, Mallory Nicole Laird, age 36, Terri Angela Stroud, age 52, Kandi Anne Hankins, age 43, Travis Austin Powers, age 37, Tracie Ann Sells, age 54, Jeremy Paul Newman, age 47, each pleaded guilty to Drug Conspiracy.

Cody Wade Reece, age 33, and Whitney Marie Granite, age 36, pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl.

Heather Leigh Brown, age 33, pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl.

Taylor Dain Parnell Caldwell, age 34, and Randi Shawn Gann, age 34, pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine.

The Indictment alleged that beginning in or about August 2022 and continuing until on or about November 15, 2023, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, the defendants willfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together, and with others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to commit offenses against the United Sates, namely the possession with intent to distribute and distribution of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

The joint investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, working in cooperation with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.

Additionally, several law enforcement agencies contributed at various stages of the investigation, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the District 16 Drug and Violent Crime Taskforce, the District 18 Drug and Violent Crime Taskforce, the Poteau Police Department, the Spiro Police Department, the Choctaw Nation Lighthorse Police, the Seminole Police Department, the Pocola Police Department, the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Office, the LeFlore County Sheriff’s Office, the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Marshals Service.

The Honorable Gerald L. Jackson and the Honorable D. Edward Snow, U.S. Magistrate Judges in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the pleas and ordered the completion of presentence investigation reports.  All defendants are in the custody of the United States Marshal Service pending sentencing.

Assistant United States Attorneys Erin Cornell and Jordan Howanitz represented the United States.