5 Georgians Among 14 Charged With Drug Conspiracy & Related Charges

Fourteen members of a methamphetamine trafficking ring have been charged with federal drug conspiracy and related drug and firearms offenses, U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray has announced. The federal indictment was unsealed in court last week.

Five of those charged are from Georgia and a handful of those five are incarcerated in Georgia prisons.

Seven of those charged have been arrested by federal, state and local law enforcement, and the remaining seven defendants are currently incarcerated on unrelated charges. The arrests are the result of a multi-agency investigation targeting the trafficking of methamphetamine from Georgia into Western North Carolina.

“With methamphetamine trafficking on the rise, it is crucial that we continue to team up with our law enforcement counterparts to stem the flow of this dangerous drug, disrupt drug pipelines, and prosecute traffickers who plague our neighborhoods and imperil our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Murray.

“Methamphetamine poses a clear and present danger to the health and safety of communities,” said Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division. “Because of the unified effort of all law enforcement agencies involved and the subsequent prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we have dismantled this alleged drug conspiracy, and these defendants will no longer be able to distribute this toxic drug that destroys lives and communities.”

“The trafficking of methamphetamine into our country and its spread through our communities is a national crisis. Together, through our partnerships with the DEA and the United States Attorney’s Office, we are fighting this battle as a united front,” said Sheriff Donald G. Brown II, of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office.

According to allegations contained in the criminal indictment unsealed today in federal court, from 2018 through April 2019, the 14 defendants were involved in a drug conspiracy that trafficked and distributed methamphetamine in Catawba, Lincoln, Caldwell, and Alexander Counties and elsewhere in Western North Carolina.  Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized at least 23 firearms, and more than $250,000 in drug proceeds. The 14 defendants charged are:

• Thomas Dewayne Simmons, Jr., 34, of Snellville, Georgia.
• Ruth Marie Duggar, 36, of Claremont, N.C.
• Kimberly Deann Bumgarner, 55, of Claremont, N.C.
• Cynthia Roxanne Shook, 34, of Catawba, N.C.
• Lowell Thomas Messer, 32, of Sherrills Ford, N.C.
• Samantha Jean Taylor, 26, of Newton, N.C.
• Jason Keith Reichard, 38, of Newton, N.C.
• Aaron Douglas Goodson, 29, of Maiden, N.C. (in custody on state charges)
• Priscilla Chapman Lambert, 33, of Hickory, N.C.  (in custody on state charges)
• Jonathan Corey Daniel, 31, currently incarcerated in the Georgia Department of Corrections.
• Tiffany Christmas Hirani, 33, currently incarcerated at the Clayton County        Sheriff’s Office Detention Center in Jonesboro, Georgia.
• James Kristoffer Cantley, 38, currently incarcerated at the Robert A. Detention Center in Lovejoy, Georgia.
• Brian Duane Martz, 40, currently incarcerated in the Georgia Department of Corrections.
• Michael James Notheisen, 34, currently incarcerated in the North Carolina Department of Corrections.

All 14 defendants are charged with conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, which carries a statutory minimum prison term of ten years and a maximum term of life in prison, and a $10 million fine.  Some defendants face additional drug possession and distribution charges and/or related firearms offenses. (See chart below for a breakdown of federal charges and maximum penalties for each defendant).

The charges contained in the indictment are allegations.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law.

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Murray thanked the following agencies for their investigative efforts which led to federal charges: the DEA in Charlotte, Asheville, and Atlanta; the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation; the North Carolina State Highway Patrol; the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office; the Newton Police Department; the Conover Police Department; the Maiden Police Department; the Hickory Police Department; the Longview Police Department; the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office; the Granite Falls Police Department; the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office; the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office; the Huntersville Police Department; the Cornelius Police Department; the Mint Hill Police Department; the Pineville Police Department; the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department; the Monroe Police Department; the Taylorsville Police Department; the Gaston County Police Department; the Georgia Highway Patrol; the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia; the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; the Georgia Department of Corrections; the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia; and the Commerce Police Department in Georgia.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hess, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, is prosecuting the case.