By MICHAELA SPRINGER
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
A federal judge has sentenced 11 people for their roles in an armed trafficking ring responsible for bringing “hundreds of thousands” of fentanyl pills and several kilograms of meth into central Indiana.
Prosecutors say the ring was led by Jaraughn Bertram, who was killed in Mexico in 2024. Through his trafficking organization, meth and fentanyl were brought in from Arizona to Indianapolis, Anderson, and Muncie.
Bertram worked with Christopher Miller of Indianapolis to utilize couriers to get the drugs from a contact in Arizona and fly them to Indy, concealing the drugs in their checked luggage. Drugs were also shipped to Indy through U.S. mail.
Court documents say several members of the ring owned firearms with Glock switches and other guns, despite having previous felony convictions.
Along with drug dealing, Miller and two others, Afrika Williams and Jamie Sullivan, laundered the money earned from the ring through CashApp transactions, bank deposits, currency exchanges, and by buying vehicles.
During the investigation, Bertram fled to Mexico. The Arizona contact, a man named Joaquin Carranza, also fled to Mexico after federal charges were announced in June 2023.
While Bertram died in Mexico, Carranza remains on the run.
Officers retrieved many firearms, vehicles, and drugs over the course of the investigation, including:
- 128 firearms
- 61 machine gun conversion devices
- $722,626 currency
- 22 vehicles
- 118 pounds of methamphetamine
- 78 kilograms of fentanyl
- 501 pounds of marijuana
- 315 grams of cocaine
- 216 grams of heroin
Sentences
- Christopher Miller, 29, Indianapolis: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances; Conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; Engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. Sentence: 26 years in prison; five years of supervised release.
- Jamie Sullivan, 22, Indianapolis: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances; Conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; Distribution of controlled substances; Possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. Sentence: 24 years in prison; five years of supervised release.
- Camonte Miller, 21, Indianapolis: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances; Possession with intent to distribute controlled substance. Sentence: 20 years in prison; five years of supervised release
- Afrika Railynne Williams, 29, Indianapolis: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances; Conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. Sentence: 13 years and four months in prison; five years of supervised release
- Monica Sumner, 20, Indianapolis: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances. Sentence: 12.5 years of imprisonment; five years’ supervised release.
- Dewell Simpson, 18, Indianapolis: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances; Possession of a machine gun. Sentence: 11 years and eight months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release.
- Regina Weatherford, 60, Indianapolis: Possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. Sentence: five years and five months’ imprisonment; four years’ supervised release.
- Tameico Johnson, 22, Fishers: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances; Distribution of controlled substance. Sentence: 20 years and 10 months’ imprisonment; five years’ supervised release.
- Jayden Bertram, 22, Carmel: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances. Sentence: 20 years in prison; five years’ supervised release.
- Courtlin Moncrief, 29, Avon: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances. Sentence: 20 years in prison; five years of supervised release.
- Jordan Sumner, 22: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances; Possession with intent to distribute controlled substances; Possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Sentence: 16 years and eight months in prison; five years of supervised release.
Their combined sentences total out to 222 years and six months.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/central-indiana-drug-trafficking-ring-sentenced-to-combined-200-years-in-prison.