Federal complaints name two additional suspects

Two more men have been named in complaints filed in U.S. District Court in connection with an earlier indictment alleging a conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone and Oxymorphone in Whitley, Knox, Laurel and Rockcastle Counties.

James E. Martin, 73, of Gray, and Mark Milslagle, 49 of Lexington, are named in the complaints U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosive Special Agent Todd Tremaine filed.

According to the complaint naming Martin, Knox County Sheriff’s deputies worked with a confidential informant to purchase Oxycodone from Martin on multiple occasions dating back to Aug. 13, 2018.

Upon further investigation, Tremaine spoke with Martin, and after advising him of his Miranda rights, Martin agreed to answer questions.

Martin admitted that Logan Ray Towery, who is one of the individuals named in the indictment alleging the conspiracy, supplied him with Oxycodone pills until the two had a falling out in 2017.

“Martin stated that Towery supplied Martin with approximately 100 Oxycodone pills a week,” the complaint states, noting Towery charged him $25 per pill and that he would resell the pills for $35 apiece.

According to the complaint, Martin admitted that he continued to sell pills after the falling out with Towery, acquiring his supply from people that were going to pain clinics.

“Martin stated that he has been personally going to a clinic in Lexington for the last three years to obtain pills,” the complaint stated noting that the doctors refused to give him anything stronger than 15 mg.

“Martin stated that when he asks for a higher does the doctors laugh at him,” the complaint stated.

Among the three unidentified victims referred to in the complaint, Martin admitted that he knew one had overdosed and died as a result of ingesting pain pills obtained from Towery.

When asked about what Martin had told law enforcement, Towery admitted to supplying Martin with 100 to 200 pain pills per week at one point.

According to the complaint, law enforcement began its investigation into Milslagle on Oct. 29 after Towery identified him as one of his biggest prostitution customers.

“Towery stated that Milslagle started buying women from Towery on the website backpage.com before the website was shutdown,” Tremaine stated in the complaint noting that Towery initially provided the women with pain pills and then had them work off the debts to him by engaging in acts of prostitution.

“Towery stated that since backpage.com shutdown, Towery and Milslagle have been dealing directly with one another for years. Towery stated that he procures girls for Milslagle,” noting that Milslagle met with the girls in both Corbin and London

Among the girls involved was the aforementioned victim 2, who overdosed and died in Corbin in 2018.

“Towery stated that Milslagle knew the girls to be addicts,” Tremaine stated in the complaint.

In the complaint, 14 victims are referenced in text messages between Towery and Milslagle discussing that were obtained as part of the investigation.

The text messages are dated between May 29, 2018 and Sept. 30, 2019.

According to the complaint, Tremaine interviewed Victim 12, who provided details of how she became involved when Towery initially provided her with free Opana pills, which contain Oxymorphone.

According to the victim, Towery eventually stopped providing free pills, instead requiring her to perform sexual favors to obtain them.

The victim said that Towery later set her up on a date with Milslagle and she was paid $500 for sexual intercourse.

“Victim 12 stated that she had to pay back Towery for the pills he had fronted her with some of the money Mark paid her,” Tremaine stated noting she did this multiple times.

According to the complaint, several other victims, identified only by numbers, provided similar accounts.

In addition to conspiring to distribute pills containing Oxycodone in Laurel and Whitley County, Tremaine contends that Milslagle conspired to, “knowingly, intentionally, in and affecting interstate commerce, recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, maintain, patronize, and solicit by any means a person, knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact that coercion would be used to cause a person to engage in a commercial sex act, in Laurel and Whitley Counties.”