Aryan Brotherhood associate admits in Fresno federal court to role in prison drug scheme
A 53-year-old associate of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang has pleaded guilty to being a part of a scheme to smuggle drugs into the Salinas Valley State prison.
Todd Morgan admitted in U.S. Eastern District Court in Fresno on Thursday to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin. He faces 10 years in prison under the federal governments mandatory minimum sentencing structure.
Morgan is one of more than 100 people who were arrested last November as part of a multi-agency investigation into the Aryan Brotherhood and several street gangs that have helped them, including the Fresnecks and Peckerwoods.
As part of the investigation, federal agents were able to intercept phone calls and text messages from Aryan Brotherhood gang members about trafficking drugs, including methamphetamine and heroin, into several states and California’s prison system.
Morgan and others were caught by federal agents in September 2020 after a failed attempt to secretly toss a package of drugs onto a section of the Salinas Valley State Prison.
What Morgan and his co-conspirators didn’t know was that they were being watched and listened to by federal agents, according to a criminal complaint.
Morgan and his co-conspirators discussed how to get the package into the prison, including the best route, the time of day and the quantity of the drugs. They decided on one pound of methamphetamine and four ounces of heroin, according to court records.
On Sept. 23, 2020, they plan was to find the spot where the prison fence is only about 12 feet. The area is part of the prison’s minimum-security facility. Once the package was thrown over the fence, one of the inmates was supposed to secure it.
But the plan failed.
The next day as they were headed back to Fresno, they were stopped by a law enforcement officer who found one pound of methamphetamine and 114 grams of heroin, according to court records.
Morgan will be sentenced on Jan. 28, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 4.
