Major Methamphetamine Supply Sources and Courier Sentenced to Lengthy Federal Prison Sentences in Case Targeting Members of Known Outlaw Motorcycle Gang

February 12, 2010 - David Lee Russell, 51, of Hughson, California, who pleaded guilty in November 2009 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam R Cummings to serve 121 months in federal prison. In addition, Judge Cummings sentenced Russell to serve five years of supervised release. He must also forfeit his 1999 Harley Davidson motorcycle to the government.

Dennis Carl Hegwood, 54, of Modesto, California, who pleaded guilty in November 2009 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, was sentenced by Judge Cummings to serve 108 months in federal prison. In addition, Judge Cummings sentenced Hegwood to serve three years of supervised release.

Clifford Leroy Clark, 49, of Levelland, Texas, who also pleaded guilty in November 2009 to the same offense as Hegwood, was sentenced by Judge Cummings to 140 months in federal prison. In addition, Judge Cummings ordered that Clark forfeit his firearm to the government and serve five years of supervised release.

In October 2007, law enforcement initiated an investigation into the narcotics trafficking activities of Bobby Duwayne Froman, a/k/a “Quick,” the founder of the Aces and Eights OMG. Russell and Hegwood were two of Froman’s methamphetamine supply sources in the Modesto, California area. Russell purchased the 1999 Harley Davidson that he is required to forfeit from Froman with proceeds from the sale of methamphetamine. Froman pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 26, 2010.

As outlined in documents filed in court, from January 2003 to early July 2009, defendants Bobby Duwayne Froman, Gordon Clark Bohannon, Charity Bell Barron, Jeffrey Paul Bayer, Clifford Leroy Clark, Earnest Gale Flowers, Sharon T. Froman, Billy Charles Fuller, Bradley Gene Gore, Danny Keith Gregory, Jason Gutierrez, Dennis Carl Hegwood, Gary Duane Hegwood, Kimberly Hull, Andrew Clay Hurst, Kenneth Ray Johnson, Teddy Ralph Johnson, Stephanie Renee McKee, Keith Allen Miller, Jamie Paul Nickell, Kristi Ann Quillen, Jose Jesus Quintanilla, Hector Ramos, Perry Dean Roberson, David Lee Russell, Steven Allen Savell, Toni Jo Petska-Wood, and Marvin Lee Whittington, conspired with each other and others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine. Froman recruited other conspirators, often members of the Aces and Eights OMG, to facilitate his methamphetamine trafficking. All of the defendants, with the exception of Sharon T. Froman and Danny Keith Gregory, against whom the charges were dismissed, have pleaded guilty in the case and most are awaiting sentencing.

Clark was one of Froman’s co-conspirators who transported large amounts of U.S. currency from Lubbock and Levelland, Texas, to Modesto to purchase large quantities of methamphetamine from Russell and Hegwood. Froman and others then distributed it in Levelland, Lubbock and throughout the South Plains area of West Texas.

Some of the conspirators maintained the following residences to store, weigh, package and distribute the methamphetamine: (1) Froman’s residence on Cactus Drive in Levelland; (2) Bayer’s residence on North Highway US 385 in Levelland; (3) Gore’s residence on Elgin Avenue in Levelland; (4) Whittington and Petska-Wood’s residence on 53rd Street in Lubbock; and (5) Ramos’s residence on 91st Street in Lubbock County.

The investigation is being conducted by the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Marshal Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Hockley County District Attorney’s Office, the Levelland Police Department, the Lubbock Police Department, and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys C. Richard Baker, Jeffrey R. Haag, and Denise Williams, of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office, are prosecuting the case.