Tulsa Man Pleads Guilty To Drug Conspiracy

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that JACOB HORTON MASTERS JR., age 55, of , Oklahoma, pled guilty to DRUG CONSPIRACY, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846, 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A).

The Indictment alleged that beginning in or about the end of 2013, the exact date being unknown to the Grand Jury, and continuing until on or about January 27, 2016, within the Eastern District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, the defendant did knowingly and intentionally conspire, confederate and agree with others to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.

The Investigation revealed that Cody McClendon, an Indian Brotherhood (IBH) gang member, while an inmate with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in McAlester, Oklahoma was utilizing a contraband cellular phone that he kept hidden on his person and inside his prison cell to facilitate the sale and distribution of methamphetamine. McClendon was doing this by using the cellular phone to communicate with co-conspirators via audio phone calls, text messages, and by communicating on the social media website Facebook.  MASTERS was a methamphetamine distributor and maintained money for the organization.

The charges arose from a joint investigation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the Tahlequah Police Department, the Muskogee Police Department, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Drug Enforcement Administration.  The investigation was coordinated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) of the Eastern District of Oklahoma.  OCDETF is an initiative led, and coordinated by, the Office of the United States Attorney.

The Honorable Kimberly E. West, Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report.  The defendant will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.

The statutory range of punishment is not less than 10 years imprisonment, a fine up to $10,000,000.00 or both.

Assistant United States Attorney Shannon Henson represented the United States.