OKLAHOMA CITY – A 55-count federal indictment naming 24 defendants alleges that a convicted killer directed a drug ring in Wichita, Kan., from his prison cell in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary with the assistance of a double-murderer from Comanche County.
Travis Knighten, 47, who is incarcerated at McAlester’s maximum-security state prison on a murder conviction from Kansas, is alleged to have been the brains behind a criminal organization that distributed methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine powder, crack cocaine, and marijuana in Wichita.
“A large-scale criminal drug conspiracy operating in Kansas whose shot caller is behind bars in another state talking on a cell phone makes this a unique case in my experience,” Kansas’s U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said. “To the alleged traffickers, I think I would say: Can you hear us now?”
McAllister said federal agents began their investigation in April 2019 and pored over thousands of intercepted messages from the indicted traffickers.
RINGLEADER USED CONTRABAND PHONES
Communicating by cell phone calls and text messages, Knighten is alleged to have “directed the movements” of 23 other suspected conspirators. The indictment alleges Knighten used contraband cell phones, acquired while he was in custody, to receive information and to coordinate times and locations for meetings with suppliers “regarding potential drug sales and purchases.”
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections reports it has seized more than 48,500 prohibited cell phones since 2011.
The alleged criminal enterprise occurred from April 2019 through July 2019, the 59-page federal indictment charges. The operation ceased at that time because of “our investigation,” said Jim Cross, public information officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita.
Knighten purportedly put together deals with the assistance of a co-defendant who also is an inmate at McAlester: Armando
Luna, 39, serving a life sentence without parole for a guilty plea in 2014 to the first-degree murder of a fellow inmate at the private prison near Lawton in 2012, state court records reflect. At the time, Luna was already serving a life sentence
on a conviction for a murder committed in Tulsa County in 2007.
The 22 other defendants are all residents of Wichita, Kan., federal records indicate.
Knighten “occupied a position of supervisor, organizer and any position of management” within the organization, the indictment alleges. He “instructed members of his network on how to cut or break down, package and store various drugs” in their “stash houses.” (To cut or break down drugs means “to divide drugs into various quantities for the purpose of sale,” the indictment explains.
Knighten also worked with a treasurer outside the prison walls, as well as other close associates who collected funds to pay suppliers, McAllister said.
Lower-ranking conspirators were responsible for maintaining five “stash houses” in Wichita where drugs were processed and stored; for cutting, packaging and storing drugs; for reselling the final products; and other duties. Although
Knighten is incarcerated in Oklahoma, he remains under the authority of the Kansas Department of Corrections. He is serving a 90-year sentence for participating in the murder of a Kansas correctional officer almost 27 years ago.
DRUG RING MEMBERS COMMUNICATED IN CODE
Members of Knighten’s network talked in code to avoid suspicion and referred to drugs in slang terms: “ice, NHL, cream, ice cream, and ice hockey” for meth; “Jordan, chocolate or dark” for heroin; “soda, soda water, or soft” for cocaine, and “hard” for crack cocaine; “gorilla or gorilla glue, tree, green or greenery, good, and kush” for marijuana.
Terms the suspected drug traffickers used to refer to specific drug quantities included a zip, oz, onion or rose (ounce), primarily in reference to meth; 16 (pound); a ball or ball game (3.5 grams); one (ounce); a half or half- time (1⁄2 ounce or pound); an elbow or a brick (one pound); a grown man (a kilogram) and midget (1⁄2 kilogram).
Knighten and his subordinates used various terms in reference to specific amounts of U.S. currency, the indictment alleges: a rack or a band ($1,000), using numbers such as 65 (meaning $6,500) or 25 (meaning $25,000), “depending on the quantity of narcotics being discussed.”
Seventeen of the two dozen defendants were known by their “street” names rather than their given names. The nicknames included “Bizz,” “E,” “Booty,” “P-Boy,” “Solo,” “Bo Peep,” “YT,” “Diablo,” “Wack,” “Shot,” “Punch,” “Bink,” “Gumbo,” “Funk,” “Leggs” and “Bucky.”
LARGE VOLUME OF DRUGS
The indictment alleges the suspects dealt in substantial volumes of illicit drugs.
Defendant Trevor Wells, 39, for example, is accused of possessing with intent to distribute 4.5 pounds of marijuana, 1.15 pounds of heroin, 10.8 pounds of “a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount” of methamphetamine, plus 1.34 pounds of pure methamphetamine.
Suspect Richard Adams, 27, possessed with intent to distribute almost a pound of “a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount” of meth, and at least 12.3 ounces of pure meth, the indictment alleges. In addition, Adams, while driving in Nebraska, had in his possession, with intent to distribute, 15.75 pounds of a substance containing meth, and he also was transporting $11,300 in cash, the indictment alleges.
Defendant Travis Vontress, 43, possessed on July 17, 2019, with intent to distribute, approximately 6.17 ounces of a substance containing “a detectable amount” of cocaine.
Suspect Tia Ward, 40, is accused of possessing with intent to distribute more than a pound of a substance containing “a detectable amount” of methamphetamine plus 10.75 ounces of marijuana.
LITANY OF CHARGES
The litany of charges filed against the suspects includes:
- Operating a continuing criminal enterprise
- Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine
- Conspiracy to distribute marijuana
- Conspiracy to distribute heroin
- Conspiracy to distribute cocaine powder
- Conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine
- Maintaining drug-involved premises
- Unlawful use of a telephone in furtherance of drug trafficking
- Possession with intent to distribute powder cocaine
- Possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine
- Possession with intent to distribute heroin
- Possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking
Along with the criminal charges, the Kansas U.S. Attorney’s office filed motions to forfeit several guns, ammunition, and $23,103 in cash confiscated during raids on the “stash houses” and arrests of the suspects.
More than 100 federal, state and local officers began apprehending the suspects on March 4, McAl- lister indicated. Agencies that assisted in the round up included the FBI, the Wichita Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
RINGLEADER HAS BEEN INCARCERATED FOR MORE THAN HALF HIS LIFE
Knighten, whose nickname is “Troub,” was convicted in 1992 of wounding a 16-year-old girl in a drive by shooting that targeted a member of a rival gang. A judge ordered then 19-year- old Knighten to serve 8 to 30 years in prison in the shooting case — making him parole-eligible after serving four years.
However, before that day arrived Knighten was convicted on new charges stemming from the May 1993 brutal, fatal attack on a Lansing Correctional Facility guard in the prison recreation room. During the assault, the guard was kicked and beaten with weight plates, pool balls, and pool sticks, news stories from the time reported. A dozen inmates including Knighten were accused of participating in the assault.
According to the Wichita Eagle newspaper, a Leavenworth County, Kan., jury convicted Knighten in 1994 of second-degree murder and aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer in the guard’s death. Kansas Department of Corrections records show he has been incarcerated out-of-state since December 2000.