A complicated drug trafficking enterprise that stretched from California to Ohio has been dismantled, and eleven people have been convicted for their participation in the vast criminal network. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced the findings of a thorough investigation into a criminal operation based predominantly on Cleveland’s east side. This case, which is linked to a superseding federal indictment released on February 22, 2024, includes serious drug trafficking, money laundering, violence, and firearms charges.
A Criminal Enterprise Built on Marijuana and Money Orders
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The conspiracy lasted from May 2021 to late November 2022, and members of the organization transported hundreds of pounds of marijuana from California to Ohio. Jerry Baker, also known as Jerry Bogarty, a 34-year-old from Cleveland, was at the heart of this operation, overseeing the organization’s daily operations. Baker decided who may sell drugs, collect money, and even launder the revenues. His power was so vast that he sponsored acts of violence, extortion, and robbery to collect unpaid bills within the network.
Walter Sornoza, 50, of Los Angeles, supervised a cross-country distribution network known as “Empire Genetics.” To transport drugs, accomplices would fly from California to Cleveland with luggage full of marijuana, using commercial aircraft as cover. Once the medicines arrived, Baker’s team would spread them around Cleveland and beyond.
The profits did not only sit in pockets. Baker and his friends changed cash into money orders, which were subsequently couriered back to California by trusted individuals. One associate was even in charge of flying from Cleveland to Los Angeles with the laundered money to pay off Sornoza’s crew.
A Business Front and Weapons Cache
To conceal their activities, Baker purchased a tiny local shop called “In & Out Tires,” which acted as a hub for the group’s drug storage and distribution. During the investigation, law officers discovered weapons dispersed over the property, as well as money order receipts, packaging supplies, and bags, all of which pointed to a sophisticated trafficking ring.
Sentences Handed Down Across the Board
Patricia A. Gaughan, the United States District Judge, punished all eleven defendants after they pled guilty. Here are a few of the main outcomes:
- Jerry Baker received 168 months in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering, racketeering, firearm possession, and operating a drug premises. He will also serve five years of supervised release.
- Walter Sornoza was sentenced to 108 months in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering and also received five years of supervised release.
- Deshaun Martin, 36, from Cleveland, received 87 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute drugs, laundering, and firearm offenses, plus four years of supervised release.
- Noblys Garcia, also known as Flaco, 43, from Studio City, California, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
- Sidne Spencer, 28, from North Hollywood, received two years of probation.
- Keveon Lewis, 44, from Corona, California, got six months in prison, six months of location monitoring, and two years of supervised release.
- Moniqka Hazzard, 32, from Riverside, was given 30 days in prison, seven months of location monitoring, and three years of supervised release.
- Jerry Baker Sr., 55, from Cleveland, received three years of probation.
- Antonio Lanier, 35, from Cleveland, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, plus three years of supervised release.
- Herman Wilson, 43, from Katy, Texas, was sentenced to two years of probation.
- Ajeremiah Baker, aka AJ, 20, from Garfield Heights, Ohio, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
A Joint Federal Strike Against Organized Crime
This case was part of a larger campaign called the Strike Force campaign by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which attempts to bring down the country’s most powerful and organized drug networks. Using a methodology in which agents from different federal agencies collaborated, this operation targeted not only drug distribution but also financial crimes and violence linked to trafficking networks.
With these sentences completed, a major drug trafficking pipeline connecting California and Ohio has been successfully disrupted. According to federal officials, the message is clear: large-scale drug trafficking networks will be discovered, prosecuted, and brought to justice, regardless of how far they spread or how deep their roots grow.
