The accused Atlanta connection in a massive cocaine ring that federal and state agents say brought in up to 100 kilos of coke to Pittsburgh worth millions of dollars has been ordered detained in U.S. custody as a danger and flight risk.
After a hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon revoked the bond of Gordon Johnson, 36, and remanded him to the U.S. marshals.
Johnson is the key supplier for a coke ring allegedly run by Jamal Stoner, of Pittsburgh, that shipped huge amounts of cocaine to a Green Tree apartment stash house that Johnson leased, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the state attorney general's office.
During a yearlong wiretap investigation, the DEA and state agents recovered 31 kilos of coke and $3 million in cash. The taps revealed other transactions involving up to 100 kilos, according to government evidence.
The ring members flew to Atlanta to pick up cocaine and then brought it into Pittsburgh on Greyhound buses because Greyhound security is lax, prosecutors said.
A grand jury in Pittsburgh handed up an indictment of 16 accused dealers and couriers on Dec. 7, six of whom are from Pittsburgh and seven from Atlanta. DEA said the ring stretched from Atlanta, Detroit and California to Pittsburgh and had connections to Mexico.
Agents arrested Johnson in Atlanta on Dec. 9 and a magistrate judge there released him on bond. The government objected and the order was stayed pending a hearing by Judge Bissoon in Pittsburgh, where Johnson is being held.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Jordan said Johnson was part of a "well-organized, logistically sophisticated drug trafficking organization that surreptitiously moved more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, and millions of dollars of drug proceeds, across state lines."
DEA tapped three phones from September 2020 to last November, one of them Johnson's. Those intercepts, along with surveillance, GPS monitoring, trash pulls and travel records revealed the ring's operation, with its focal point at Apartment 2002 at the City Vista complex in Green Tree.
Agents recovered 21 kilos there on Sept. 27, 2021, and 10 kilos at other locations.
Ms. Jordan said Johnson rented the apartment under the false name "Dexter Jones." She said he used couriers for travel to and from Atlanta to transport cocaine to Pittsburgh and cash back to Atlanta. Agents recovered more than $160,000 and 17 kilos from his couriers, she said, as well as $1 million from two safe deposit boxes he controlled.
Further evidence showed the ring worked "tirelessly" to avoid the law, Ms. Jordan said, including the use of KryptAll phones to conceal identities and the use of the fake name to rent the stash apartment.
Agents traced the IP address of the lessee of the apartment to Johnson's house in Atlanta, Ms. Jordan said.
Even after the Sept. 27 raid that yielded the 21 kilos, the ring didn't stop dealing.
Agents made two more seizures of seven and three kilos at later dates.
Travel records revealed the same credit card being used for various ring members to make dozens of flights to Atlanta, with Johnson himself flying 24 times.
"G. Johnson’s release would pose a serious danger to the community," Ms. Jordan said in arguing that he be locked up. "It would also give rise to an intolerable risk of flight, which could be aided by several conspirators who have thus far managed to evade law enforcement."
The lead defendant in the case is Stoner, 33, a home improvement contractor who runs a Pittsburgh house-flipping business called Beyond Measures Investment Properties.
Prosecutors said Stoner was the key Pittsburgh player for the ring while Johnson supplied coke from Atlanta. Stoner has connections to Atlanta, where he went to high school and has relatives.
Another accused supplier is Jesus Cuevas, 41, who operated in both Atlanta and Detroit.
Agents recovered $1.9 million from Cuevas in Detroit along with 14 cellphones and an AR-15 assault rifle.
First Published: February 13, 2022, 2:35 p.m.