Federal plea agreements detail alleged coast-to-coast drug operation
Between 2011 and 2014, drugs were delivered to Macon and other Georgia cities, shipped through the U.S. Postal Service and private carriers, as part of what federal prosecutors have described as a "large scale drug organization" dismantled earlier this year.
Details of the enterprise are included in plea agreements signed in recent weeks by 15 of the 35 people charged in what's been dubbed "Operation Southern Postal Powder."
Prosecutors say a trial is expected in February 2016.
According to the plea agreements:
Thaddeus "Stupid" Lavette Bonds, 34, of Macon, is accused of being the leader of a multi-state cocaine and marijuana distribution organization.
Bonds allegedly "obtained" kilograms of drugs from Arizona and California and employed people to mail the drugs to Macon and other cities.
Citing the pending case against Bonds, his lawyer declined comment when contacted last week.
Numerous phone calls were intercepted in a wire tap between Bonds and 33-year-old David Ray Fells, of Eureka, California, showing Fells was a marijuana source for Bonds.
When interviewed by authorities, Fells admitted he received up to 50 pounds of marijuana monthly from his auto body shop customers as payment for the shop's work.
He said Bonds started buying marijuana from him in February 2013 at $2,500 per pound.
He also said Bonds paid him to use the auto body shop to package the drugs.
Authorities found Fells' bank account information on Bonds' phone in a May 2013 search. Fells has said Bonds initially deposited money into his auto body shop's business bank account before he started bringing cash to buy the drugs.
Another Eureka resident, 24-year-old Shannon Miller, told authorities in August 2014 that Bonds had approached her about three years earlier and offered her an opportunity to make money by mailing marijuana from California to Macon, Covington and Griffin.
She said she bought marijuana using money Bonds gave her through a bank account she opened at his instruction and mailed an average two packages weekly, each containing between five and 10 pounds of the drug.
Antwoin Bell, 30, of Macon, admitted to mailing several packages from Phoenix, Arizona, to Georgia that were later seized by authorities and found to each contain a half kilogram of cocaine.
He also traveled between Arizona and Georgia so he could receive packages.
The intercepted packages were addressed to a Circle K store in Macon and UPS Store post office boxes rented by Bell.
Bell was arrested July 1, 2012, when he took possession of a package containing cocaine mailed from Arizona to his UPS Store post office box in Alpharetta.
Angel Crosby, then-manager of the Circle K on Riverside Drive in Macon, has admitted she agreed to accept packages at the store on behalf of a life-long friend.
Crosby, 38, was paid $50 to $100 to accept the parcels and deliver them to a man at the store or at the man's house.
"After receiving a number of the parcels, she came to suspect that the parcels contained drugs," according to her plea agreement.
Donnie William Brown, 36, of Macon, admits he recruited his girlfriend to accept packages of cocaine at the Flash Foods in Fort Valley where she worked.
She'd recently quit when a package arrived Dec. 3, 2011, and was opened by another clerk. The box contained a half kilogram of cocaine. The clerk called police.
Several people charged in the case have admitted opening bank accounts that were used to funnel drug proceeds from Bonds' organization to his suppliers.
Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.
This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Federal plea agreements detail alleged coast-to-coast drug operation ."