BLACKS: We beez flying drones into prisons homies needz dey drugs: Drone loaded w drugs/phones flown into Fort Worth & other prisons investigators say

[Arheel's Uncle]

Drone loaded with drugs, phones flown into Fort Worth prison, investigators say

Staff found 46 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 87 grams of pressed THC, two prepaid smartphones, and nine mp3 players, according to the Department of Justice.

www.fox2detroit.com

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Drone loaded with drugs, phones flown into Fort Worth prison, investigators say​

By FOX 4 Staff

Published August 12, 2022 12:41PM

article

(U.S. Department of Justice)

FORT WORTH, Texas - A man accused of flying a drone filled with drugs, phones, and mp3 players into a Fort Worth prison was arrested on Thursday.

Bryant LeRay Henderson, 42, was arrested at his home in Smithville and charged with one count of attempting to provide contraband in prison, one count of serving as an airman without an airman’s certificate, and one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

According to court documents, Henderson flew a drone into a fenced-in section of FMC Fort Worth just before midnight on Wednesday, May 4.

Prison staff recovered the drone, which had a package attached to it.



Inside the package, staff found 46 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 87 grams of pressed THC, two prepaid smartphones, and nine mp3 players, according to the Department of Justice.

"Contraband drone deliveries are quickly becoming the bane of prison officials’ existence. Illicit goods pose a threat to guards and inmates alike – and when it comes to cell phones, the threat often extends outside prison walls. We are determined to stop this trend in its tracks," said Meacham.

Surveillance video from O.D. Wyatt High school on the night of the incident showed a man in a red vehicle remove a drone and package from the truck, fly the drone towards the prison and drive off.

(U.S. Department of Justice)

Two and a half weeks later, officers found the vehicle abandoned on the side of the road.

Henderson's debit card was found inside, along with a drone controller, according to court documents.

From the drone itself, investigators found flight logs, which included four flights over FMC Fort Worth's airspace and two over a federal prison in Seagoville.

If convicted, Henderson faces up to 45 years in prison.

 

[Arheel's Uncle]

Bryant LeRay Henderson

https://www4.oig.dot.gov › library-item › 39439

Texas Individual Sentenced for Attempting To Provide Contraband to a ...​

On April 6, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sentenced Bryant LeRay Henderson to 41 months of incarceration, 24 months of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. In October 2022, Henderson pleaded guilty to an information charging Henderson with attempting to provide contraband to a prisoner. The information alleged Henderson flew a drone carrying methamphetamine, cell phones, MP3 players, pressed tetrahydrocannabinol, and tobacco into the Federal Medical Center Fort Worth, a correctional facility. Henderson was previously charged with serving as an airman without an airman's certificate, attempting to smuggle contraband into a prison, and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Best search engine for True crime stories | Mugshots.com

Bryant Leray Henderson in Texas Williamson County arrested for ASSAULT CAUSES BODILY INJURY FAMILY VIOLENCE, SPEEDING, NO DRIVERS LICENSE

mugshots.com

Bryant Leray Henderson was booked in Williamson County, TX for ASSAULT CAUSES BODILY INJURY FAMILY VIOLENCE, SPEEDING, NO DRIVERS LICENSE

LINK to image @ Mugshots.com : 32331053

Name : Henderson, Bryant Leray
Address : Austin, TX 78759
Race : Black
Gender : Male
Height : 5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
Weight : 165 lb (75 kg)
Hair : Black
Eyes : Brown
SO # : 10-126966
Booking # : 2010-07513
Facility : Main Jail
Arresting Agency : Williamson County Sheriff's Office
Booked Date : 6/06/2010
Released Date : 6/07/2010

 

[Arheel's Uncle]

NEW STORY

Bethune man facing additional charges related to flying drones into SC prisons

Charges are piling up against a Bethune man accused of flying a drone into South Carolina prisons.

www.wistv.com

FORMER INMATE

Bethune man facing additional charges related to flying drones into SC prisons​

A 28-year-old man was charged for the second time with flying drones carrying contraband into a South Carolina Department of Corrections facility.


By Maggie Brown
Published: Mar. 13, 2024 at 1:07 PM MST|Updated: 10 hours ago

MCCORMICK, S.C. (WIS) - Charges are piling up against a Bethune man accused of flying a drone into South Carolina prisons.



Quintin Alexander Douglas, 28, was hit with 12 additional charges on Friday ― six counts of providing prisoners with contraband and six counts of criminal conspiracy.

Douglas was charged in February with flying drones into Broad River Correctional and in August with flying drones into McCormick Correctional Institution.

The most recent warrants from the South Carolina Department of Corrections Inspector General said Douglas flew the drone in a field off US-378 in McCormick County.

Douglas attached a package of contraband to the drone and flew it into the McCormick prison yard, warrants allege.

Bethune was charged in February with four counts of criminal conspiracy and was charged in August with providing contraband to prisoners and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

No bond information was available on the public index.

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Former inmate used drones to smuggle contraband into multiple prisons, SC officials say

The 28-year-old was out on bond from charges of flying drones carrying contraband into a prison when he was arrested again Wednesday, SCDC said.

www.yahoo.com

7 days ago In the incident that happened in January 2023, Douglas is accused of flying a drone containing tobacco, marijuana, cellphones and other contraband items onto the prison yard at McCormick

 

[Arheel's Uncle]

2022

20 people arrested for using drones to deliver over 100 pounds of contraband to South Carolina prison

Authorities seized knives, guns, meth, tobacco and crack cocaine.

www.cbsnews.com

20 people arrested for using drones to deliver over 100 pounds of contraband to South Carolina prison (TOTAL OF 35 arrested/charged)​

By Tori B. Powell

February 4, 2022 / 4:00 PM EST / CBS New
An eight-month investigation at a South Carolina prison has resulted in the confiscation of more than 100 pounds of contraband and 20 arrests, the state's department of corrections announced Thursday.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office opened a probe into "frequent nighttime drone assaults" at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville in May 2021.

Since then, officials have seized an estimated 100 pounds of tobacco, 13 pounds of marijuana, 843 grams of methamphetamines, 114 grams of crack cocaine, 49 grams of cocaine, 12 drones, three guns, two knives, 25 cellphones and $6,393 in cash. Authorities also discovered abandoned drones in the woods near the prison's fences that contained about 100 grams of meth and five pounds of tobacco.

Officials arrested 20 people and confiscated more than 100 pounds of contraband that groups attempted to fly over a South Carolina prison's fences using drones. South Carolina Department of Corrections

In the latest sting over the weekend, authorities arrested Morrell Godbolt Anthony Bullard Buddy Berry Jr. Hezekiah Brownand Divine Scott. They were believed to be a part of separate and unrelated groups trying to fly drones over the prison's fences at the same time, officials said. Each suspect was charged with contraband and criminal conspiracy, with Scott facing an addition charge of failure to stop for a blue light.


Their arrests brought the total number of people charged in the investigation to 20. The other 15 suspects are facing a slew of charges including drug trafficking and possession, contraband, criminal conspiracy and trespassing.

Lee County Sheriff Daniel Simon said one of the drones found this past weekend was the largest he's ever seen. "These large drones can carry heavier and heavier packages. We are working hard to stop them from getting in the wrong hands," he said.


In 2018, a fight at the same South Carolina prison left seven dead and 17 other inmates injured. It was considered at the time to be the worst U.S. prison riot in 25 years.

 

[Arheel's Uncle]

Six accused of using drones to deliver contraband to prison

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Six people are accused in a federal indictment of conspiring to use a drone to fly contraband such as cell phones and marijuana into the U.S.

apnews.com

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15 years for man accused of flying drone to SC prison

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars for trying to use a drone to smuggle contraband into a maximum security South Carolina prison,

www.postandcourier.com

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MEXICAN MAFIA

Drone Technology Used to Smuggle Contraband into Prisons

“Contraband drone deliveries are quickly becoming the bane of prison officials’ existence,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham.

insider.govtech.com

Drone Technology Used to Smuggle Contraband into Prisons​

“Contraband drone deliveries are quickly becoming the bane of prison officials’ existence,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham.​

April 12, 2023 •
Tribune News Service

California’s prisons are flooded with cellphones, even though it is illegal for inmates to have them. Last year, authorities confiscated 6,766 phones, a significant decrease from the 10,494 seized three years earlier.

Federal prosecutors have charged two men with using drones to drop loads of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, tobacco and cellphones into the yards of seven prisons across California.

Walls and rules have never stopped prisoners from getting what they need. Drugs, phones and other contraband have been smuggled in by guards and visitors, flung over fences and even stashed inside hollowed-out pastries in care packages.

Now, two men are accused of using an increasingly common technology to bypass prison walls: drones.

Federal prosecutors in Fresno have charged Jose Enrique Oropeza and David Ramirez Jr. with using drones to drop loads of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, tobacco and cellphones into the yards of seven prisons across California. Oropeza was arrested March 29; Ramirez was arrested on April 4. Along with drug trafficking offenses, the men face airspace violations of operating unregistered aircraft and flying without a certificate, a redacted indictment shows. Both have pleaded not guilty. Several others whose names are obscured have been charged in the case but have not been arrested.

In the persistent ploys to get contraband into prisons, the skies are playing a growing role.

“There’s a large problem right now with drone activity,” Sgt. Craig Parkhill, a gang investigator at Centinela State Prison, testified at a recent trial in Los Angeles.

The issue isn’t confined to California. Two men have been charged in separate cases in Texas with dropping methamphetamine, tobacco, vape pens, phones and MP3 players into federal prisons, prompting the U.S. attorney in Dallas, Chad Meacham, to say, “Contraband drone deliveries are quickly becoming the bane of prison officials’ existence.”

An inmate sends a phone’s GPS location to the drone pilot, who uses the phone as a homing device, Parkhill said. The payload is often disguised as a rock or piece of trash in case a guard spots it in the prison before it can be retrieved.

A sheriff’s official testified at a recent trial that deputies shot down a drone that was flying over a Los Angeles County jail complex in Castaic.

In the case of Ramirez and Oropeza, the two piloted the drones under cover of darkness, coordinating drops with inmates who used contraband phones, according to the indictment.

A resident of Dixon, about 20 miles southwest of Sacramento, Ramirez is accused of using 10 drones to bring heroin, phones and SIM cards into High Desert State Prison in Lassen County and Salinas Valley State Prison in Monterey County. He would drop the contraband onto prison rooftops, “stuffed inside of a pigeon or hidden in a mop head,” the indictment says.

The ring also flew contraband into the North Kern, Corcoran, Pleasant Valley, New Folsom and Centinela state prisons, prosecutors charged.

Drones are just one way of obtaining contraband. It remains easier to smuggle phones and drugs through corrupt staff members or visitors, said an imprisoned associate of the Mexican Mafia who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

A guard who was assigned to San Quentin’s death row was sentenced in February to 20 months in prison after admitting he smuggled at least 25 cellphones for a condemned inmate who sold them to other prisoners.

Inmates began using drones around 2016, when the devices dropped in price and were being aggressively marketed, the source said. Pilots would either drop the loads in prison yards before dawn or release them in areas outside the walls where low-security inmates work as groundskeepers. One payload, which might include up to 20 phones and half a pound of drugs, could go for $30,000, the source said.

The source said a young inmate from the Westside Locos gang in Simi Valley was a pioneer in using drones for smuggling. He set up other prisoners with a friend who was paying for college by piloting loads of drugs and phones into prisons across California, the source said. The deliveries so endeared the young inmate to members of the Mexican Mafia that before he was released from prison and deported to Mexico, he was made a member himself, the source said.