Guilty Plea Ends Phase of Lengthy Narcotics and Public Corruption Investigation

United States Attorney David E. O'Meilia announced that a guilty plea in federal court ends a phase in a complex multi-agency investigation that spanned four years and is related to the investigation and prosecutions of at least 25 other individuals.

Kejuan Lavell Daniels, age 34, of Tulsa, pled guilty today to Conspiracy, and admitted that between December 2002 until sometime in 2006, he entered into agreements with others to import and distribute in excess of five kilograms of cocaine and in excess of 50 grams of crack cocaine. According to the plea agreement, the total sum of cocaine that was distributed in the Tulsa area was in excess of 100 kilograms (220 pounds).

The original investigation began in December 2004 as a narcotics matter, but it was discovered that Daniels and his organization had cultivated individuals within local law enforcement to obtain sensitive information in order to protect his drug trafficking activities and to avoid detection and apprehension. The resulting public corruption investigation resulted in the convictions of former Tulsa police officer and detective Rico Yarbrough, former Tulsa police records clerk DeShon Stanley and her mother Diana Brice. Another branch of the investigation ultimately led to the investigation, prosecution and conviction of a number of individuals on income tax fraud to include a Tulsa tax preparer. Investigators utilized three court authorized wiretaps during the probe of Daniel's organization which resulted in the interception of over 40,000 telephone calls and text messages in just over three months.

The law enforcement effort was spearheaded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (O.C.D.E.T.F.), and included agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Intelligence Division, and Task Force Officers assigned from the Tulsa Police Department Special Investigations Division.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert T. Raley and Joseph F. Wilson were involved in coordinating the Task Force investigation and handled the prosecution of the case against defendant Kejuan Daniels.

U.S. Attorney O'Meilia commended the outstanding efforts of all the prosecutors and law enforcement agents involved in the investigation and prosecution, further stating: A The Northern District of Oklahoma Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force will relentlessly identify, pursue, disrupt and dismantle large drug trafficking organizations. We will insure that the drug traffickers, as well as their sources of supply and anyone who furthers the enterprise, are investigated, prosecuted, and that their ill-gotten profits and property are taken away and forfeited to the government. The investigation and prosecution of the high-level members of this significant cocaine trafficking endeavor and the corrupt public servants that assisted them is just part of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies continuing coordinated efforts to make our communities in northeast Oklahoma safer by combating the distribution of illegal drugs.