By Shavonne Potts
Salisbury Post
Twenty-three men were indicted for involvement in a drug ring that was one of the top cases for federal prosecutors in the Western District of North Carolina in 2007.
The men óincluding six from Rowan County, one a former Salisbury Police officer ó were involved in a drug operation that stretched to California.
Authorities arrested them in February 2005; the last sentencing took place in October 2007.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office and Salisbury Police worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the investigation. The North Carolina Bureau of Investigation spearheaded it.
Operation Shattered Glass, as the case was called, yielded 12,500 grams of powder cocaine; 600 grams of crystal methamphetamine; 997 dosage units of MDMA, known as ecstasy; 47 illegal firearms and thousands of dollars in cash.
Ryan Wagoner of Gold Hill was the former city police officer involved. Twenty-nine years old at time of his arrest, he was sentenced November 2006 in federal court to three years probation. Wagoner is the only one in the group given automatic probation.
The other 22 received sentences ranging from one year to 10 years in the Bureau of Prisons. All of the men were charged with conspiracy to distribute ecstasy, methamphetamine and cocaine.
Wagoner, of Gold Hill, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute. He worked for the police department from December 2000 until he resigned in December 2004.
The other Rowan County men convicted and sentenced are Byron Keith Martin, then 36; Todd Monroe Eller, 30 at the time of arrest; Michael Andrew Flowers, 34 at the time; Jason Britt, then 26; and Darren Jay Taylor, 29 at the time of his arrest.
Their sentences are:
– Martin, the last to be sentenced last October, received seven months in federal prison and seven months in halfway house detention.
– Eller was sentenced two and a half years. Court documents show that Eller provided assistance in the investigation. His sentence was reduced from its original 10-years-to-life and again reduced from six years.
– Flowers will serve a year and a half, a sentence that was reduced from an initial five-to-40 years.
– Britt entered a guilty plea in March 2006 for one count of conspiracy and was sentenced to 41 months.
– Taylor will serve less than a year and a half for his involvement. Prosecutors said in 2006 Taylor provided information that led to a guilty plea. His sentence was reduced from an initial five-to-40 years.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program, a division of the Justice Department, was responsible for the investigation.
The probe grew out of North Carolina and led to significant investigations by the Drug and Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Los Angeles, Calif.
That led to the arrest and conviction of Hovannes Aram Blikian, the supplier for the organization operating in North Carolina. He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert, of the Western District of North Carolina.
Federal indictments said the N.C. men possessed the methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties between February 2002 and January 2005. Investigators reportedly found 985 ecstasy tablets and $10,000 inside Martin’s vehicle. A search of his house uncovered anabolic steroids and cash.
At that time, in October 2004, Martin was a manager at Wink’s Barbecue and Seafood in Salisbury.
Participating law enforcement agencies in the lengthy investigation included the SBI, ATF, DEA, Salisbury Police, Rowan County Sheriff’s Office and the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office.
Others convicted and sentenced in the case are:
– Jason Agard, five years in federal prison;
– Christopher Collin Beach, three and a half years.
– Aaron Charles Beane, three years.
– Caroll Joseph Carpin, 10 years.
– Thomas Russell Christmas, 10 years.
– Bradford Lane Couch, two and a half years.
– Joshua Hurley, one year.
– Jason Alan Johnson, nearly five years.
– Billy Jason Keith, two years.
– Dennis Gerald Keith, five years.
– William Russell Locklear died in a traffic accident before his sentence was imposed.
– Mitchell Terrell Morrison, almost three years.
– Christopher Shane Pigg, five years.
– Shane Ray Pope, two and a half years.
– Jason Armistead Sadler, five years.
– Harry Gevorkian, 10 years.
During the first 11 months of last year, 725 defendants were indicted in 374 bills of indictment filed in federal court in the Western District . The office cites partnerships from local, state and federal agencies that resulted in significant prosecutions.
Rowan Sheriff’s Capt. Kevin Auten agrees, pointing to the joint cooperation as the reason for the successful convictions.
“Local agents were able to put two and two together,” he said.
That close examination led to the arrests and convictions.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.