http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/09/30/news/local/news05.txt
For 23 months, student-athletes ran a drug-dealing cartel in Bozeman that involved concealing cocaine in peanut butter jars, using disposable track phones to evade police and fronting scholarship money that tripled on cash returns.
According to a federal indictment, these are the finer points of an elaborate drug ring that flourished, mostly at the hands of one-time Montana State University athletes, until federal investigators unraveled the sprawling case in May.
Additional details of the drug-dealing operation emerged last week when U.S. attorneys in Montana unsealed a 21-page criminal complaint charging former Bobcat football player Demetrius A. Williams, 24, with selling and conspiring to sell cocaine.
The complaint draws parallels between the drug ring and the June 2006 shooting death of reputed cocaine dealer Jason Wright, and alleges that Williams temporarily suspended his cocaine operations immediately after Wright's killing.
Former redshirt football player John Lebrum and former Bobcat basketball player Branden Miller have been charged with Wright's kidnaping and death in a separate case in Gallatin County. Both have pleaded not guilty and their trials are scheduled for next year.
Prosecutors allege Williams was the leader of a wide-ranging drug cartel that imported nearly 26 pounds - or 11.7 kilograms, at an estimated street value of $42,000 - of cocaine to Montana between June 2005 and May 2007, and employed other MSU athletes, including Bobcat wide receiver Richard “Rick” Gatewood, who allegedly bankrolled Williams' startup operation using athletic scholarship money.
The complaint brings to light the most detailed account of the cocaine operation to date, and describes the extent to which Gatewood, 23, was allegedly involved in financing drug purchases from California.
According to the complaint, Gatewood told investigators he fronted Williams $800 from his athletic scholarship to buy cocaine during the summer of 2005, earning $2,400 in return. In January 2006, Richard Gatewood gave Williams $2,100 to buy drugs and received $3,200 in return, the court documents said. Later investments were up to $3,200.
Gatewood is scheduled to plead guilty to conspiracy to sell cocaine on Oct. 11 in Missoula, while his younger brother, Randy Gatewood, 21, pleaded guilty to the same charge in July.
Williams, the Gatewood brothers and other suspects in the drug case have also been subpoenaed as state witnesses in the homicide case, according to Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert, who said he could not elaborate on the connection.
“As far as how the cocaine distribution relates to the homicide case, everyone will just have to stay tuned as the trial approaches,” Lambert said. “We're not in a position to spell things out right now.”
Meanwhile, an affidavit in support of the charges against Lebrum and Miller remains sealed in Gallatin County District Court. A separate, less-detailed affidavit is available to the public in Gallatin County Justice Court, where Lebrum and Miller were initially charged.
The federal complaint against Williams alleges that he instructed other drug runners to “lay low” because there was a lot of “heat” being generated in Bozeman because of the homicide investigation and Williams was “scared.” Rick Gatewood then took over the drug operation when Williams left Bozeman for California shortly after the slaying, according to the complaint.
Earlier this month, Lebrum was also indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of cocaine in Gallatin County between December 2005 and August 2006.
Federal officials declined to comment on whether the drug charges against Lebrum are related to the Williams case, or if Wright's slaying was related to cocaine deals gone awry.
Another tie between the drug charges and the homicide case emerged in July when state prosecutors accused Randy Gatewood of participating in a June 17, 2006, bar fight involving Miller and Lebrum. Six days after the bar fight, the two men were charged with the kidnapping and shooting death of Wright, who was a well-known cocaine dealer in Bozeman.
Prosecutors say Miller pistol-whipped a man during the altercation, causing him head injuries, and pushed a gun into another man's stomach. The alleged victim told investigators Gatewood and Lebrum participated in the assault, and police later found a handgun in Gatewood's possession.
Randy Gatewood was subsequently charged with both felony and misdemeanor assault charges in connection with the brawl. His attorney, Morgan Modine, said Gatewood could receive a lesser sentence in the federal drug case if he provides information to prosecutors regarding several codefendants, or offers them details regarding the high-profile homicide case.
“It could very well be that they want his assistance in the homicide case in Gallatin County, but it's entirely up to the government,” Modine said in a July interview. However, he could not say what, if any, knowledge his client has of the murder.
Randy Gatewood is scheduled to appear for sentencing in Missoula on Nov. 21.
Also this month, former MSU cornerback Andre Fuller pleaded guilty in Missoula federal court to a single count of cocaine distribution. According to court records, Fuller sold cocaine in the Bozeman area from May 2006 to August 2006.
Fuller was arrested in December 2006 at the same time as former MSU wide receiver Edward Torrance Sullivan, 23, of Carlsbad, Calif., and former MSU cornerback Derrick Lamont Davis Jr., 21, of Santa Monica, Calif. All three men were charged with selling cocaine or marijuana, court records stated.
As part of an agreement with the federal government, state charges of cocaine distribution against Fuller have been dismissed, Lambert said.
Additional criminal charges arose this month when Marcus Antonio Hill, 30, of Augusta, allegedly sent threatening e-mail and voice messages to a federal witness in the cocaine trafficking case. Hill was arrested on Sept. 5 and remains in custody in Bozeman.
The lengthy charging document unsealed last week describes a complex network of drug traffickers who brought large amounts of cocaine into Montana from California over a two-year period.
According to the complaint, Williams maintained several apartments in Bozeman, allegedly to help facilitate his drug dealing, and was the area's main supplier of cocaine. He is accused of trafficking cocaine into Montana from Fairfield, Calif., and conspiring to sell it in Bozeman, Missoula, Helena, Billings and Kailispell, but was known to be “running” Bozeman.
To arrange drug shipments and deliveries with suppliers in California, Williams and a group of at least six “street-level drug runners” used track phones, or throw-away phones, which are typically used to avoid police detection, according to an FBI investigator.
Williams or an associate would then ship around 18 ounces of the drug by Fed Ex, placing the cocaine in peanut butter jars to mask the smell from drug-sniffing dogs. Shipments would arrive in Bozeman at least twice a month.
Williams and his “runners” were also aware of banking laws that require bank employees to report cash wires exceeding $2,000, and avoided drawing unwanted attention by transferring smaller amounts of money to out-of-state cocaine suppliers.
In May, federal narcotics agents netted a half-dozen suspected drug dealers in the Bozeman area, including the Gatewoods, whose cooperation eventually led investigators to Williams.
Jesse Dykstra, one of Williams' drug runners, pleaded guilty on Sept. 11 to conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute. According the complaint, Dykstra told federal investigators he began working for Williams during the summer of 2005.
Dykstra recalled one conversation during which Williams instructed him to be aware of other people bringing cocaine into Bozeman. Williams told Dykstra that where he comes from, they “take care of” competing drug dealers. Williams told Dykstra that Bozeman was his drug territory.
In late 2006, Williams introduced Dykstra to an associate, later determined to be Richard Gatewood, who would begin selling drugs directly to Dykstra because Williams was going to California, according to the complaint. After his arrest, Richard Gatewood said he didn't actually sell cocaine until sometime between January 2006 and June 2006, after he had exhausted his eligibility at MSU.
When the Gatewood brothers were arrested in May, Richard Gatewood became the sixth current or former MSU football player arrested in less than a year. Reports of his arrest, coupled with academic issues that have cost the school football scholarships in past years, led to the firing of football coach Mike Kramer.
After his arrest, Randy Gatewood told authorities he met Williams while Williams and his brother were playing football at Contra Costa Community College in California.
Williams and Richard Gatewood eventually moved on to play football at Montana State University - Williams in 2003 and Gatewood in 2004 and 2005. Randy Gatewood said he moved to Bozeman in early 2006.
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