Members of two criminal street gangs are among five additional defendants sentenced to substantial federal prison terms as prosecutions continue in Operation Vanilla Gorilla.
Andrew Campos, a/k/a “Chubs,” 29, of San Antonio, Texas, was sentenced to 235 months in prison by United States District Judge R. Stan Baker, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Campos was designated as a career criminal and has ties to the Tango Orejon gang, which operates largely in Texas prisons. He pled guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and for being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Campos conspired with others, including affiliates of the Ghost Face Gangsters, to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine in the Savannah area. Operation Vanilla Gorilla, which dismantled the drug distribution network, was an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation that included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and other state and local law enforcement agencies.
“Operation Vanilla Gorilla was an aggressive strike by law enforcement that continues to pay dividends. More prison sentences are removing more violent criminals from our midst,” said U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine. “By definition ‘career criminals’ plague law-abiding citizens, and we as prosecutors continue to work relentlessly to sweep them from our streets.”
The prosecution in Operation Vanilla Gorilla resulted in federal prison sentences for other members of this drug trafficking organization in recent days, including:
Brandon Chapman, 26, of Savannah, Ga., was sentenced to 130 months in prison for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine, and 120 months in prison for being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Rodney Rose, 39, of Hamilton, Ohio, was sentenced to 120 months in prison for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine;
Cody Eubanks, 27, of Pembroke, Ga., was sentenced to 90 months in prison for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine; and,
Christopher Hendrix, 40, Savannah, Ga., was sentenced to 72 months in prison for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Hendrix was a leader of the Ghost Face Gangsters.
All of the defendants were on probation or parole when they committed the offenses, so the federal sentences begin after completion of their sentences for violating state probation or parole. There is no parole in the federal system.
As noted in court, these defendants had a combined total of more than 50 state criminal convictions, including at least 18 felony convictions, and more than 15 prior probation/parole violations. These five defendants were members of a major drug trafficking organization that distributed kilogram quantities of crystal methamphetamine (“ice”) in the Southern District of Georgia and elsewhere.
“There are some who think joining a gang or gang life is cool; I can assure you it’s not,” said Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team Director Everett Ragan. “Hopefully these individuals will use their time in federal prison to reflect on their poor decisions.”
The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), the premier U.S. Department of Justice program to dismantle multi-jurisdictional drug trafficking organizations. Agencies involved in the investigation included the ATF, the GBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT), the Georgia Department of Corrections Intelligence Division, the Savannah Police Department, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office, the Richmond Hill Police Department, the Pooler Police Department, the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office and the Bloomingdale Police Department, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys E. Greg Gilluly Jr. and Frank Pennington.
