5 sentenced to jail time for roles in Port Arthur drug trafficking organization
Published 4:30 pm Thursday, February 25, 2021
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Five people were sentenced to a combined 34 years in prison for what police said were their roles terrorizing Port Arthur residents as members of a drug trafficking gang.
The Port Arthur Police Department announced Thursday that five individuals pleaded guilty in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Beaumont Division) for conspiracy to distribute and possess a synthetic cannabinoid known as Ambfubinaca:
- Christopher Dwayne Reed Jr., (28) sentenced to 87 months
- Kenneth James Keller, (37) sentenced to 110 months
- Shashira Auronica Cotton, (33) sentenced to 46 months
- Brandon Jermaine Brown, (27) sentenced to 57 months
- Sherrod Drew Callahan, (38) sentenced to 110 months
Det. Mike Hebert noted 39-year-old Gabriel Wilson Taylor remains a fugitive from justice.
The sentences follow a Port Arthur Police Department Narcotics and Gun Unit investigation on drug trafficking within Port Arthur.
That investigation led PAPD officers, with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, to discover drug traffickers had established a base of operation at 2147 Wignal Avenue.
“That house was in the middle of a very nice neighborhood with good neighbors,” Hebert said. “They kind of terrorized the whole place.”
PAPD SWAT executed a search warrant at the Wignal location and recovered approximately 13 pounds of synthetic cannabinoids.