8 members of Calhoun County-based meth trafficking ring arrested; four in custody get additional charges

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WAFF) - On Tuesday, an indictment charging 12 defendants in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy based in Calhoun County was unsealed.

Eight of the defendants were arrested on Tuesday and four defendants were already in custody for state offenses.

The indictment includes special findings of the grand jury regarding the amount of methamphetamine attributable to various defendants as part of the drug trafficking conspiracy.

The following is the list of individuals charged on a 66-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana between June 2021 and June 2022:

Antonio Franchester Orr, 48, of Eastaboga (four charges): conspiring to distribute and distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession with the intent and attempt to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. Orr was already in custody on related state charges.
Brandon Maurice Butler, 34, of Lincoln (two charges): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Thomas Terrel Truss, 50, of Oxford (one charge): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Truss is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Fountain Correctional Facility for 1st-degree rape and 1st-degree sodomy.
Seth Michael Owens, 29, of Ragland
Gerod Montario Stripling, 35, of Eastaboga (three charges): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Stripling was already in custody on related state charges.
Jakahri Howard, 22, of Lincoln(three charges): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Steven Weed, 50, of Lincoln (one charge): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
Melissa Sage Goins, 36, of Guntersville(one charge): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
Brian Kenneth Goodwin, 44, of Pell City(two charges): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
Michael Edwin Scales Sr., 68, of Anniston(one charge): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
James Christopher Stanley, 46, of Tuscaloosa (one charge): conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Stanely was already in custody on related state charges.
Charles Alan Calhoun, 57, of Alpine (one charge): conspiring to distribute a substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine.

The charges range from a minimum prison sentence of five years after completion of any other sentence to a maximum penalty of life in prison. The indictment also charges all defendants with at least one count of using a telephone to facilitate a drug-trafficking crime which carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.

The DEA, ATF and other law enforcement agencies have seized over 20 kilograms of methamphetamine and one kilogram of cocaine as a part of the investigation.

The DEA and the ATF investigated the case along with Anniston Police Department, Oxford Police Department, 7th Judicial Circuit Major Crimes Unit, Calhoun County District Attorney’s Office, Talladega County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, Pell City Police Department, West Alabama Narcotics Task Force, Blount County Sheriff’s Department, and the Alabama National Guard Joint Counter Drug Task Force.

“In Alabama and all across our nation, DEA and our partners are determined to find drug traffickers, shut down their operations, and bring them to justice. Today’s arrests are yet another strike against the powerful drug trafficking organizations whose tentacles stretch across the state border into our neighborhoods” said DEA ASAC Towanda Thorne-James.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Allison Garnett and Blake Milner are prosecuting the case.