DELTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Sixteen people have been arrested and charged with drug-trafficking crimes in and around Lansing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Court documents say the arrests targeted members of two drug trafficking rings, one of which used a south Lansing boutique as a front.
Eight people have been charged with conspiring to distribute heroin, fentanyl and cocaine. Seven others were charged in a separate criminal complaint with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl.
One person has been charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine base.
During the arrests, federal, state and local investigators seized bulk quantities of cash, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl along with more than twenty firearms.
The charges are the result of multi-agency investigations involving the Drug Enforcement Administration, Lansing Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, Michigan State Police, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U. S. Marshals Service and the Internal Revenue Service.
Federal agents and Lansing police have been investigating a drug trafficking organization headed by Edward Washington since the spring of 2020, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The complain says the organization was "distributing bulk quantities of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin throughout Lansing."
Washington used couriers to distribute illegal drugs and also used the Head Ova Heels Boutique on Holmes Road in south Lansing "as a 'front' to distribute narcotics, and launder narcotic proceeds," the complaint said.
Federal agents and local police began an investigation into another drug trafficking operation headed by John Humphrey this past April, a separate complaint said.
That organization was "distributing pounds of crystal methamphetamine as well as bulk quantities of fentanyl and heroin supplied by Davanti Heard-White throughout Lansing," the complaint said.
Both investigations relied on the use of phone taps and confidential sources, according to court documents.
More than 150 federal, state and local law enforcement officers from Michigan Illinois, and Ohio assisted with the search warrants and arrests on Tuesday.
Those charged include:
- Edward Washington, 39, of East Lansing
- Demanuel Porter, 33, of Lansing
- Jamar Street, 30, of Lansing
- Latisha Mack, 32
- Jerome Till, 50
- Ebony Malone, 36, of Lansing
- Michael Terry, 33
- Angela Dority, 46
- Davanti Heard-White, 30
- John Humphrey, 32, of Meridian Township
- Marquise Brooks, 33, of Lansing
- Miguel Schooler, 24, of Lansing
- Arnon Lake, 34, of Lansing
- Demetrus Heard, 29, of Lansing
- Jeffrey Humphrey, 52, of Delta Township
- Jordan Suttles, 30
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