ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Justice announced 13 people were sentenced after being convicted for their roles in a methamphetamine distribution ring.
The catch? The ring was operated out of a federal prison in Atlanta and a state prison.
Justice officials said 68-year-old Edward Kelvin Pope worked with fellow state inmates David Wilson and Kevin Josue Campos Rivera to distribute meth across north Georgia and the metro Atlanta area.
Pope, Wilson and Campos Rivera were serving sentences at Central State Prison in Macon.
The three state prisoners worked with federal inmate Jose Santos Isaola Cisneros, in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Atlanta, to bring their operation together.
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At the time, Pope, who is also known as “Paw Paw” was already serving a life sentence plus 70 years for several violent crime convictions, including armed robbery, kidnapping and more.
“From behind prison walls, these defendants egregiously continued to violate the law by coordinating the distribution of massive amounts of methamphetamine throughout north Georgia,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in statement. “The prison sentences imposed in this case without the possibility of parole follow a multiyear, closely coordinated partnership among federal, state, and local law enforcement to protect our communities from the spread of deadly drugs.”
During the investigation, justice officials said agents learned the drug trafficking organization repeatedly sent large amounts of meth around north Georgia.
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the four inmates coordinated their drug ring by distributing illegal drugs to couriers and customers across the state via Marcelo Ibarra, a Cartersville resident.
Ibarra would sell “kilogram quantities of meth” for Isaola Cisneros, the USDOJ said.
Federal officials offered the following, brief, timeline of events related to the trafficking organization’s activities and the operation to stop it:
- On April 30, 2021, Pope, Wilson, and Isaola supplied Ibarra with approximately two kilograms of methamphetamine that Ibarra distributed at a gas station in Cartersville, Georgia.
- On June 14, 2021, Wilson and Campos Rivera conspired with Luis Cisneros Ruiz to sell approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine that Cisneros Ruiz distributed in a restaurant parking lot in Stockbridge, Georgia. Two weeks later, agents searched Cisneros Ruiz’s residence in Stockbridge, Georgia, where they found an active methamphetamine conversion lab and seized more than 3,000 kilograms of methamphetamine.
- On August 11, 2021, Wilson and Campos Rivera conspired with Carlos Ruben Ramirez Romero to supply approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine to a drug customer who was actually an undercover DEA agent. Agents later searched Ramirez’s apartment in Norcross, Georgia, and located approximately 13 kilograms of methamphetamine, $49,000 in bulk U.S. currency, and a rifle.
“Methamphetamine continues to fuel addiction, violence, and instability in our communities,” Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta Field Division, said. “These defendants believed they could orchestrate a drug trafficking organization from inside a correctional facility, but the sentences show that law enforcement will pursue traffickers wherever they operate. DEA will continue working tirelessly to disrupt and dismantle networks responsible for distributing dangerous drugs.”
This is who USAO said was sentenced from the case:
- Jose Santos Isaola Cisneros, 35, of Hampton, Georgia, was sentenced to 25 years in prison to be followed by ten years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to engage in concealment money laundering.
- Ramon Rodriguez, Jr., 46, of Dalton, Georgia, was sentenced to 20 years in prison to be followed by twenty years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
- Carlos Ruben Ramirez Romero, 41, of Norcross, Georgia, was sentenced to 19 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and conspiracy to engage in concealment money laundering.
- David Wilson, 53, of Carrolton, Georgia, was sentenced to 18 years, and four months in prison to be followed by eight years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and conspiracy to engage in concealment money laundering.
- Kevin Josue Campos Rivera, 27, of Snellville, Georgia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to engage in concealment money laundering.
- Gustavo Omar Martinez, 37, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was sentenced to 14 years in prison to be followed by four years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
- Luis Cisneros Ruiz, 27, of Stockbridge, Georgia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
- Edward Kelvin Pope, 72, of Commerce, Georgia, was sentenced to serve ten years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
- Marcelo Ibarra, 33, of Dalton, Georgia, was sentenced to eight years six months in prison to be followed by four years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine and conspiracy to engage in concealment money laundering.
- Julio Estuardo Mijangos Chinchilla, 37, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to six years five months in prison to be followed by four years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
- Kelyn Roxana Ortiz Flores, 36, of Norcross, Georgia, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, after pleading guilty to assault of a federal agent and conspiracy to engage in concealment money laundering.
- Max Donald Whitlock, 55, of Nicholson, Georgia, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
- Oscar Valdez Samaniego, 45, of Rex, Georgia, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison to be followed by four years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
The Cartersville Police Department, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Department of Corrections, officials said.
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