Source: United States Department of Justice News
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler announced that a grand jury returned a four-count indictment charging four men with trafficking fentanyl pills from the Southwestern United States to be distributed in Cleveland.
Named in the indictment are Derrean Wall, 29, and Cortez West, 31, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Dayareon Crofton, 22, and Floyd Head, 39, of Phoenix, Arizona. Each defendant is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. In addition, Defendant Wall is charged with three additional counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
According to court documents, in January 2022, postal inspectors in Arizona seized a package suspected of containing narcotics addressed to a location in Cleveland, Ohio. Investigators later learned that the package contained approximately 2.2 kilograms of fentanyl pills. After investigating the origins of the package, it is alleged that authorities identified Defendants Dayareon Crofton, Floyd Head and Cortez West as participants in a drug trafficking conspiracy that shipped and couriered large quantities of fentanyl pills to Defendant Derrean Wall in Cleveland. Over the course of the next three months, Crofton, Head, and West were arrested, each carrying approximately 2kg of fentanyl pills. All three were arrested while en route to Cleveland, Ohio.
On April 27, 2022, authorities executed a search warrant at locations in Warrensville Heights and Cleveland known to be associated with Wall. During the execution of the warrant, court documents state that authorities encountered Wall at the addresses and obtained two loaded pistols, a loaded rifle, heroin, methamphetamine and large quantities of fentanyl.
If convicted, a defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after a review of factors unique to this case, including the defendants’ prior criminal records, if any, the defendants’ roles in the offenses, and the characteristics of the violations.
In all cases, sentences will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, will be less than the maximum. All four defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Cleveland Heights Police Department, Cleveland Metroparks Police Department and the Summit County Drug Unit investigated this case.
Assistant United States Attorney Payum Doroodian is prosecuting this case.