A La Habra man headed a notorious Crips street gang drug ring that sold marijuana across the country and held meetings on the same Compton block where a second Crips operation sold pot and moved prescription drugs to Louisiana, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles.
Deverick Deshawn “Dog” Mathis and the 40-year-old's wife, Shontrice Crine James, 38, also of La Habra, are among 15 people facing federal charges as part of a multi-agency wiretap investigation into both alleged drug
trafficking organizations. The cases also swept up residents of Anaheim and Long Beach.
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Mathis, who authorities link to the Front Hoods Crips of Compton, allegedly oversaw the marijuana operation that had strong ties to Ohio. The federal complaint details the following seizures since 2009: two
packages containing $188,480 in cash; 1,405 pounds of
marijuana from two Phoenix, Arizona, residences in March 2009; and 423 pounds of marijuana and $124,4058 in cash from an Anaheim
business this past March.
On Thursday, federal agents also arrested accused Mathis co-horts Kiison Jordan, 34, of Long Beach, and Stephen Carr, 38, of Fontana. Along with Mathis, they were ordered held without bond. Their arraignments are scheduled for Aug. 18.
Several automobiles were also seized Thursday, including a 2007 Land Rover, a Bentley
automobile, a 2010 Dodge Challenger, a 2010 Lexus and a lowrider.
Lakeisha Andrews, 39, of Los Angeles, was arrested this morning as part of the Mathis bust, which had previously snared: Marcus Dennis, 39, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Filberto Cardona Hernandez, 35, of Phoenix; and Hasaan Ali Simon, 45, of Granada Hills.
As the feds were listening in on the Mathis meeting place, they also had their ears on a second house
on West Stockwell Street in Compton. This is where Dion
Grim, a 35-year-old Carson resident who the feds also link to the Front Hood Crips, is accused of controlling marijuana sales–sometimes involving a pound a more–and the movement of prescription Xanax pills to Louisiana.
Grim was arrested this morning along with Don Taylor, 32, of Compton, who allegedly oversaw day-to-day
operations at West Stockwell, and Chauntay Sharee Rouzan, 32, of Carson. Isaac Lawrence Sparrow, 29, of Louisana, has agreed to surrender to authorities there on Monday, according to the feds, who say previously arrested were: Charles Edward Davis, 51, of Compton; Richard Earl Jennings, 33, of Los Angeles; and Anaheim's Kenneth Dajaun Mitchell, 31.
All 15 defendants from the two criminal complaints are
charged with conspiring to distribute narcotics, which could fetch each 20-year stretches in the federal pen.
The investigation was
conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation with assists from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,
the Los Angeles County Probation Department, the Fontana Police
Department, the California Highway Patrol and the Glendale, Arizona,
Police Department.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.