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Tag: Distribution of Illegal Drugs

Black Collar Crime: “Preacher Man” Cedric Manior Sentenced to Ten Years for Drug Crimes

cedric manior

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Cedric “Preacher Man” Manior, pastor of New Beginnings International Outreach Ministry in Soperton, Georgia, was sentenced today to ten years in prison after he was convicted of  “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and to being a felon in possession of firearms.” Manior took literally the words in the Bible that say, “arm yourselves.”  At his arrest, agents seized twenty firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, along with a plethora of drugs and drug distribution equipment.

The Savannah Morning News reports:

Minister Cedric Manior, 44, of Rincon was sentenced Friday to 10 years of incarceration by United States District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood.

Manior was convicted last August of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and to being a felon in possession of firearms.

Evidence presented in court filings and at sentencing revealed that Manior, also known as “Preacher Man” and a minister of New Beginnings International Outreach Ministry, was involved in a major drug trafficking organization that sold cocaine and crack cocaine in the Southern District of Georgia and elsewhere.

Manior stored and sold drugs from his home in Rincon, according to a press release from United States Attorney Bobby L. Christine. Manior also directed his adult son, Cameron Edwards, to sell illegal drugs on his behalf.

In January 2017, Chatham Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) agents, along with the Savannah-Chatham SWAT team executed a search warrant at Manior’s residence in Rincon. Agents seized marijuana, methamphetamine, prescription medication, drug scales, drug manufacturing and distribution tools, heat-sealing machine, baggies, beakers, body armor, cash, 20 firearms, AR-style magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

On his bed, next to his Bible, agents found a loaded semi-automatic pistol. Near his church robe, agents found a Tec 9, assault semi-automatic style pistol with an extended magazine that is capable of holding over 15 rounds of ammunition.

Drug trafficking supplies and firearms were located throughout the residence. Many of the weapons were stolen. Manior was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition because he was previously convicted of six prior felony convictions for felonies committed on six separate dates.

Upon release from federal prison, Manior will be on court supervision for three years. There is no parole in the federal system.

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Black Collar Crime: Methodist Pastor Jim Irwin Arrested on Drug and Prostitution Charges

pastor jim irwin

Jim Irwin, a United Methodist pastor and the director of Care and Share Ministries in Plymouth, Indiana, was arrested and charged with various drug and prostitution crimes.

WNDU-16 reports:

A Michiana pastor was arrested Wednesday after a prostitution sting.

Police arrested 68-year-old Jim Irwin at his Plymouth home on Charles Street.

Court documents reveal that 3 informants helped police put the Plymouth pastor in jail. He’s facing 5 separate charges, 3 of which are felonies.

Dealing in Schedule I, II, or III controlled substances, Level 6 felony; Dealing a substance represented to be controlled substances, Level 6 felony;  Promoting Prostitution, Level 5 felony; Patronizing a Prostitute, Class A misdemeanor; and Patronizing a Prostitute, Class A misdemeanor.

According to the affidavit for probable cause:

On 8/3/2017 Informant A asked Irwin “what do I have to do to get a room?” Irwin responds “just lay there in front of me naked.”

On 8/9/2017 Informant B was given $50 from Irwin to give to an undercover officer for a controlled substance. He said “That’s your $50, it’s not mine, you’re buying, I know nothing about it.”

On 8/17/17 Informant C was given “two white oval pills later identified as a schedule II narcotic drug as a payment for a sexual act to occur the following week.”

Professional acquaintances were shocked to hear about this arrest happening to a man they believed was a highly respected individual.

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Sources tell NewsCenter 16 that Irwin is the director of Care and Share Ministries in Marshall County. The non-profit was started in 2004 to help provide emergency shelter to families when they are in crisis.

As of Thursday night, a sign reading ‘Care and Share office is closed due to illness’ is taped to the door of the Marshall County Care and Share. The organization is a client of United Way.

“It was shocking to learn the allegations,” said Jeff Houin, President of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Marshall County. Obviously our relationship is with Care and Share Marshall County Incorporated as our member agency, it’s not with any one individual.”

Irwin was in jail as of 9:10 p.m. on Wednesday, with a $60,000 cash bond.

The probable cause affidavit refers to multiple encounters between Irwin and various cooperating sources.

The charges filed against Irwin, now public record, are attached to this article.

According to a LinkedIn in Irwin’s name, he was also a pastor at Maple Grove United Methodist Church. NewsCenter16 contacted the Northern Indiana Superintendent who said Irwin was not a pastor at the South Bend church, but his wife was until just over a year ago.

Black Collar Crime: Pastor Willie Wilkerson Charged With Drug Trafficking

mission church dorchester

Willie Wilkerson, pastor of Mission Church in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, was arrested yesterday on charges of drug trafficking and intent to distribute.

NECN reports:

A Boston pastor is facing charges after police say they recovered crack cocaine, prescription pills, and $20,000 worth of stolen items at his residence and at the church he owns.

Willie Wilkerson, a pastor of Mission Church at 266 Quincy St. in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood, was arrested Tuesday on charges of trafficking and intent to distribute Class B and Class C drugs.

A search warrant was issued for Wilkerson, his home, the church and a Victoria’s Kitchen food trailer he owns, police said. They found drugs hidden inside coffee makers and printers.

A family member said the church and food trailer were previously owned by Wilkerson’s mother and denied the allegations.

“That’s crazy. That’s a lie,” Ivette Mitchell, Wilkerson’s niece said. “God is going to clear Willie from everything and everybody.”

Investigators found crack cocaine, fentanyl, oxycodone, Klonopin, Suboxone, as well as cutting agents and packaging materials, according to the district attorney’s office.

Investigators also found more than $10,000 and a number of stolen items estimated to be worth about $20,000.

A judge at Roxbury Municipal Court ordered Wilkerson to be held without bail for 90 days as a result of violating his probation, and then held on $50,000 bail afterwards. It’s unclear if he has an attorney.

Black Collar Crime: IFB Pastor Robert Jaynes Jr. Sentenced on Drug Charges

robert jaynes jr

Robert Jaynes Jr., pastor of Irvington Bible Baptist Church in Irvington, Indiana was sentenced last week to eleven and a half years in prison on charges ” related to the manufacture of more than 10 tons of synthetic drugs”  The Indy Star reports:

Once, pastor Robert Jaynes Jr. was a man of many words, shown in videos giving thundering sermons to his small flock at the fundamentalist Irvington Bible Baptist Church.

But it was different last week in federal court, where Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Jaynes on charges related to the manufacture of more than 10 tons of synthetic drugs.

“If there’s anything you’d like to say, now’s the time,” Sippel said.

Later, Jaynes did chime in to say it was hard to have the country he loves as a courtroom adversary: USA vs. Jaynes, a case in which he pleaded guilty to two charges.

Over three hours at the sentencing hearing, a much deeper portrait than previously known emerged of a pastor who made drugs at a volume the judge called “staggering” while luring several members of his church into the scheme, even putting his mother in jeopardy of arrest.

Jaynes was the first to be sentenced out of 23 people charged in a national conspiracy, an operation that included his wife, brother-in-law, two now-former sheriff’s deputies and an Indianapolis Public Schools teacher.

From April 2011 to October 2013, prosecutors said, Jaynes sold more than 500,000 packages of synthetic marijuana, or “spice,” in a form ready for retail sale. Over a period of nine months in 2013, Jaynes grossed $2.6 million in sales.

The total income, prosecutors said, was higher but couldn’t be quantified easily.

Judge Sippel stressed the impact Jaynes had on victims whose “lives were disrupted, destroyed, altered.”

While not directly linked to Jaynes, synthetic drug use caused a rise in emergency calls to the Indiana Poison Center. Officials at the center told IndyStar that reports involving synthetic cannabinoids spiked in 2011 and 2012, and two deaths in 2014 were attributed to such drugs.

“The quantity here is staggering,” the judge said of Jaynes’ operation, “so that means the number of people who could come tell us that story is incomprehensible.”

Spice, selling under brands such as Pirates’ Booty, is smoked like marijuana and meant to mimic its effects. Its production, however, isn’t usually precise, meaning the amount of the active ingredient in a package can vary wildly.

One of the charges to which Jaynes pleaded guilty involved mislabeling the drugs, typically sold at mom-and-pop gas stations, head shops and tobacco stores. The drugs are sometimes labeled as “potpourri” or as incense.

Jaynes started in the business by packaging synthetic drugs made by Doug Sloan, with whom Jaynes had worked in the mortgage business, and eventually moved into distributing the finished product to retail outlets.

Jaynes’ lawyer said he got involved with synthetic drugs after filing for bankruptcy and as his son was about to undergo open-heart surgery.

Public records show that Jaynes filed for bankruptcy in 2006. He claimed a monthly income that year of just $528 from his work as a pastor and self-employed courier. That was a dramatic drop from the $91,000 he claimed to have earned.

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Prosecutors portrayed Jaynes as a brazen criminal undeterred by the threat of prosecution, even after police shut down manufacturing facilities operated by Sloan and his brother, Greg Sloan, and others in the St. Louis area in 2012.

“At that point anybody would say, ‘What am I dealing with? What am I doing?’” prosecutor James Delworth said. “But instead he goes the opposite way and he becomes the largest supplier for Greg Sloan. You’ve got this continuation and growth even after law enforcement steps in.”

Prosecutors read text messages from 2012 recovered from Greg Sloan’s phone to emphasize just how aggressive Jaynes was.

“Hi Greg. This is Rob,” one text from Jaynes said. “Just wanted to check in and see if you guys needed me yet.  I’m still ready to go. I’m broke and trying to find work. If you needed me to come over there and sell my crew to the guys you work with, I’d be glad to. I’d do whatever you thought necessary in order to get work for me and my guys.”

Being broke seemed a dubious claim, prosecutors said. Tax records from the previous two years showed that Tight 30 Entertainment — the company prosecutors said Jaynes used to launder money — had sales of more than $4.5 million. During that time, Jaynes reported personal taxable income of more than $850,000.

Greg Sloan, who has pleaded guilty, soon found even more work for Jaynes, selling to a man in Oklahoma City later in 2012. Jaynes texted Sloan: “That’s great. I’ll take as much as I can get. Maybe if I prove myself with these guys, your guys might decide to give me a shot, too. I’m ready to roll.”

Greg Sloan replied: “These are my guys. Robert Jaynes, I seriously thank you. You are one of the most gracious and kind men I’ve ever met.”

For protection, Jaynes turned to church members Jason and Teresa Woods, a married couple who at the time served as Hendricks County Sheriff’s deputies.  A criminal investigator for the Internal Revenue Service testified that people in Jaynes’ organization knew Jason and Teresa Woods as “the fixers.”

“If anybody got in trouble, that’s who they were supposed to call, if they got stopped by law enforcement,” the IRS investigator said.

When Jaynes moved his operation from New Ross, Indiana, to a home in New Palestine, Jason Woods provided an escort.

“He was out of uniform, but showed up in his squad car,” the IRS investigator. “He met the truck down the street and followed it on two different occasions that day as an escort behind the vehicle to protect it, so nobody could, possibly, could pull the vehicle over during the transportation of all the synthetic drug products in the back of the vehicle.”

Jason and Teresa Woods were initially arrested in December 2014 on charges in Boone County stemming from an investigation into the spice ring. They were suspended from their law enforcement jobs and later fired.

You can read the Indy Star’s in-depth investigation of Jaynes and his drug empire here.

Bruce Gerencser