Authorities with the Finger Lakes Drug Task Force arrested more than a dozen people on conspiracy charges stemming from what they are calling the biggest drug bust in Cayuga County in the last 10 years.
Authorities from multiple law enforcement agencies on Monday arrested people who authorities said were involved in a drug selling ring in most of central New York but that also stretched as far as California. The arrests stem from an investigation into Auburn drug sales that started in April 2021, according to a task force press release issued through the Auburn Police Department.
Police said the leaders of the ring were Auburn residents Nicholas Neville and Merritt Fletcher IV, who they said are members of the gang Gorilla Stone Nation, which is unit of the Bloods.
"During the investigation it was found that Neville and Fletcher were being resupplied with cocaine from New York City and City of Rochester," the task force said in a press release. "It was also found that the drug organization was also being supplied with pressed blue fentanyl pills and methamphetamine from California."
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Fletcher, 31, of 6 Steel St., Auburn, was charged July 1 with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Neville, 32, of 61 Cayuga St., Auburn, was charged July 5 with the same counts.
Those arrests followed the execution of multiple search warrants in January and April 2022 in Auburn, Cortland, Syracuse and Bakersfield, California.
Items seized in a search conducted in January.
In January, authorities said they recovered approximately 2.6 kilos of cocaine, 1.5 pounds of methamphetamine, over a pound of pressed blue fentanyl blues (approximately 7,000 pills), two defaced handguns, over $20,000 in cash, $15,000 in jewelry, a kilo hydraulic press and multiple cutting agents in searches conducted in Auburn and Cortland.
A search of a Syracuse storage locker in April 2022 found approximately 70,000 pressed blue fentanyl pills. On the same day in Bakersfield, California, a search by federal drug enforcement officers recovered聽103,000 pressed blue fentanyl pills, 133 grams of fentanyl, 30 grams of cocaine, 17 firearms and $33,000.
Items seized in an April search by DEA agents in Bakersfield, California.
The task force said 13 people were arrested on Monday and charged with second-degree conspiracy. Those arrests required the work of the Cayuga County District Attorney's Office to prepare a grand jury indictment, which took time due "new bail reform and discovery laws along with the magnitude of the case," the task force said.
The names of the defendants charged with conspiracy on Monday are as follows:
- Calvin D. Wilson
- Rondell T. Smith
- Taquann R. Jones
- Jennifer A. Richardson
- Chalise A. Bullock
- Robert N. O'Hara III
- Kyle T. Lerch
- Jacalynn A. Jacobs
- Brittani N. Dias
- Michael J. Wiltsie
- Dytalion P. Dennis
- Michael L. Jenkins
- Donald J. Sampson
Another defendant, Caitlyn E. Jacobs, was arrested on June 29 and charged with criminal possession of a firearm and first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Agencies and units within those agencies that were involved in searches and arrests included the Finger Lakes Drug Task Force, Auburn Police Department, Cayuga County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, New York State Police, Cayuga County District Attorney鈥檚 Office, Auburn Police Emergency Response Team, Cayuga County Sheriff ERT, New York State Police SWAT, New York State Police Violent Gang Narcotic Enforcement Team from C, D, and E Troops, Cayuga County Sheriff鈥檚 K-9 Unit, New York State Police K-9 Units and US Army National Guard Counter Drug.
