WACO, Texas – A group of eight Texas men were indicted in Waco on criminal charges related to their alleged drug and gun activity.
Federal grand jury indictments charge Jeremiah Pittman, 21; Shamall McDonald, 21; Juan Christian Rodriguez-Luhan, 20; Raeshawn Demond Roberts, 21; Jacob Deshaun Raglin, 24; Javion Lavelle Cooper, 19; Tyson Charae Hawthorne, 21; and Dantawn Richardson, 20, with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Raglin was arrested in Arlington Tuesday, while the remaining defendants were arrested in Waco. Richardson was already in Waco Police custody on unrelated charges. During the arrests, law enforcement officers recovered four firearms, 13 ounces of methamphetamine and more than four pounds of marijuana.
If convicted, each of the eight defendants faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the marijuana charge and a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison consecutive to any other prison term for the firearm charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas made the announcement.
Members of the Texas Anti-Gang Taskforce, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Waco Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), McLennan County Sherriff’s Department and McLennan County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Blanton is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime. The Texas Anti-Gang Taskforce is a group of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors focused on reducing gang violence and dismantling gangs in the Central Texas area.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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