METH GANG RUN BEHIND BARS BY EAST TN PRISONER AND ACCOMPLICE TAKEN DOWN BY FEDS
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — An East Tennessee court has convicted a drug ring leader, and an accomplice will spend the next 13 years in prison after a federal investigation spanning the country uncovered an East Tennessee’s prisoner’s scheme to run a drug ring behind bars.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the accomplice, 36-year-old Charles Phelps from Nashville, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 or more grams of methamphetamine. Judge Ronnie Greer from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Greeneville sentenced him Monday.
According to the plea agreement, Phelps was part of a prison gang led by co-defendant Charles Elsea Jr., 44. Phelps conspired with other gang members to bring large quantities of methamphetamine into Tennessee.
The DOJ said Phelps was in charge of collecting and delivering money for the organization. On February 16, 2020, law enforcement pulled over his vehicle and seized $119,000 in cash concealed inside spare tire.
The DOJ said that money was being taken out west to purchase pounds of methamphetamine.
The arrest was part of a five-year multi-state investigation that began back in spring 2017.
The DOJ said Elsea led a prison gang and coordinated a drug organization behind bars using smuggled cell phones. Elsea has been behind bars for more than two decades serving a life sentence in the Morgan County Correctional Complex for a July 1996 murder, according to TDOC. FULL STORY HERE
