Six Williamsburg residents indicted for trafficking painkillers

A federal grand jury has indicted six Williamsburg residents on charges of allegedly distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone in Whitley County this past February in a case that has implicated former Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge and former Williamsburg Police Chief Denny Shelley in the purchase of pain pills off the black market.

Hodge has also been implicated in connection with other offenses.

Charles F. Fritts Jr., 50, was indicted Thursday on one conspiracy count, one count of aiding and abetting co-defendants in the distribution of controlled substances, four counts of distributing a controlled substance (hydrocodone and oxycodone), and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The grand jury charged Nikita Nichole Evans, 25, and James A. Meradith, 34, with conspiring with Fritts to distribute a controlled substance. In addition, the indictment charges Evans and Jason A. Kersey, 25, with aiding and abetting Fritts in distributing a controlled substance.

Doyle Stanford "Stanboy" Fritts, 46, and Jerry Lee Fritts, 48, were indicted for distributing a controlled substance. The indictment also charged Doyle Fritts with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Charles, Doyle and Jerry Fritts are all brothers. Evans is Charles Fritts’ daughter. Evans’ boyfriend, Meredith, also lived at Charles Fritts’ residence.

No court date set

A date has not been set for the defendants to appear before the United States District Court. Each conspiracy and distribution count carries up to 20 years in prison. The aiding abetting in distribution of a controlled substance charge carries a maximum of five years and the firearm charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the United States

Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of sentences.

A prior felony drug conviction enhances the penalties.

A review of court records indicates that Doyle Standford Fritts has previously been convicted of several felonies, including receiving goods by fraud, theft by unlawful taking over $300, third-degree burglary in Whitley County, according to an indictment.

On Dec. 3, 2006, a Whitley Circuit Judge sentenced him to five years in prison for first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance in his most recent Whitley County felony case.

He was also convicted of first-degree possession of a controlled substance in Kenton Circuit Court in 1998, according to an indictment.

Charles Fritts, Doyle Fritts and Evans were all arrested by federal authorities in early March. Each has been released from custody pending trial.

Jerry Fritts surrendered to police at his attorney’s office in Williamsburg on March 21. He is currently in custody, and federal officials are seeking to hold him without bond pending trial.

Held on other charges

Kersey and Meredith were indicted in Whitley Circuit Court On March 14 for third-degree burglary in connection with their arrest on Feb. 25.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Les Moses responded to 69 Airport Road after getting a complaint about scrap metal theft from a farm, and found a neighbor holding both suspects at gunpoint until police arrived, according to arrest citations.

"The pickup the subjects were driving was loaded with miscellaneous scrap metal. The two subjects had entered the outbuilding and removed contents from it as well as scrap from around the outbuilding," Moses wrote on an arrest citation.

Special Judge Roderick Messer ordered them held on a $5,000 cash bond during their arraignments on March 14 in Whitley Circuit Court.

Hodge connection

An affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in London by ATF Special Agent Todd Tremaine on March 9 in connection with the case accuses Hodge of trading drugs for a sheriff’s department shotgun less than a month before he left office on Jan. 2, and of offering to sell drugs to a confidential informant after he left office.

The affidavit also accuses Hodge of hanging out at a residence where drugs were allegedly sold while he was still sheriff and shortly after he left office.

On Feb. 7, a confidential informant told Tremaine that they saw Hodge at Charles Fritts residence on Jan. 30 engaged in what they believed was a drug transaction, according to the affidavit.

The confidential informant alleged that Hodge offered to sell them a 30 mg oxycodone pill, but the confidential informant turned down the offer because they wanted another type of drug instead, according to the affidavit.

The confidential informant also allegedly saw Hodge leave the pill bottle with Fritts, who told him, "give me a couple of hours, and I’ll get rid of them," according to the affidavit.

The confidential informant also told police that Jason Kersey told the informant that he and Charles Fritts helped Hodge "get rid of all the firearms that were missing from the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department," the affidavit stated.

In December 2009, a burglary was reported at the sheriff’s department and several firearms were missing from evidence.
When current Sheriff Colan Harrell took office on Jan. 2, the department had only nine handguns, one rifle, and no shotguns, Harrell said last week.

On Feb. 7, Kersey also spoke to the confidential informant about the irony of seeing Hodge at "the dope house," which was believed a reference to Fritts’ 260 Ted Ball Road residence, the affidavit stated.

On Feb. 21, 2011, the confidential informant allegedly purchased oxycodone from Charles Fritts, and saw Hodge sitting on the couch at Fritts’ residence before the transaction occurred.

An undercover Kentucky State Police Detective, who drove the informant to the residence, observed Hodge leave the residence and drive off in a truck, according to the affidavit.

Two other confidential witnesses told police they saw Hodge at Charles Fritts’ residence in October or November 2010, which is while he was still sheriff, and again in January 2011. Charles Fritts allegedly informed one of the witnesses that he sold pills to Hodge, according to the affidavit.

Evans’ boyfriend, James "Jeremy" Meredith, also lived at Charles Fritts’ residence. Two confidential witnesses told police that Meredith sold them oxycodone on two or three occasions when Charles Fritts wasn’t present, according to the affidavit.
During a March 3 interview Meredith had with Tremaine at the Whitley County Detention Center, he claimed to have information on corrupt law enforcement officers.

Meredith told Tremaine that Hodge would trade either him or Meredith’s "money guy" Lorcet in exchange for oxycodone, which Hodge preferred, Tremaine wrote in the affidavit.

In February 2011, Meredith told investigators that he personally dropped off five oxycodone tablets to Hodge and left them in Hodge’s mailbox. Hodge reportedly left the money for the pills in a trashcan, according to the affidavit.

Meredith claims that he started making runs to Jellico to obtain oxycodone for Hodge starting around December 2009, which was while Hodge was still sheriff, according to the affidavit.

He also claimed to have an "ace in the hole," in the form of a black duty shotgun that Hodge allegedly traded him in December 2010, less than a month before he left office, in exchange for three 30-mg oxycodone tablets, according to the affidavit.
He claimed to still have the shotgun, which he couldn’t trade because no one would take it knowing where it came from, the affidavit stated.

The affidavit didn’t indicate whether Meredith turned the gun over to authorities.

Meredith told investigators that Hodge gave a second shotgun to somebody that he knew, according to the affidavit.

Hodge denies the allegations.

Shelley implicated

Meredith also claimed to have supplied former Williamsburg Police Chief Denny Shelley with 80 mg Oxycontin tables on a daily basis for about eight months in spring 2010 before Shelley started buying them from Meredith’s source of supply, a person he didn’t identify for police, according to the affidavit.

Meredith claimed to have supplied Shelley with five to six Oxycontin tablets a day during that time, according to the affidavit.
At the time, Shelley worked as a narcotics detective at the sheriff’s department under Hodge.

Shelley resigned as Williamsburg Police Chief on Aug. 20, 2007, following a suspicious result on a random drug test the prior month.

An April 4, 2007, a drug test indicated Shelley tested positive for methadone, according to a drug screen results letter sent to the city.

On April 30, Mayor Roddy Harrison suspended Shelley for two weeks without pay, and Shelley was required to take another test prior to reinstatement in addition to several random tests to follow, Harrison indicated on a handwritten notation on the results letter.

Shelley was tested again on July 18, 2007. The test results were negative, but a memo indicates that the specimen had been diluted and it was suggested that he be tested again, according to a different drug screen results letter sent to the city.
This was the second time Shelley has been implicated of buying drugs in federal court documents in less than one year.
Branden Ray Sutton, 32, also implicated Shelley in the purchase of drugs when he made a plea deal with prosecutors on May 19.

Sutton is accused of being part of a oxycodone distribution ring along with former Williamsburg Police Officer Brad Nighbert, who is currently awaiting sentencing in federal court.

Sutton told federal officials that he sold pills for Nighbert, and claims to have watched Nighbert sell pills from his residence to Shelley and former Williamsburg Police Officer Brad Boyd.

Neither Hodge, Shelley, nor Boyd has been charged in connection with the federal investigation. Shelley has not been charged criminally in connection with any investigations.

Indictment announced

Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Paul J. Vido, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer, and the Williamsburg Police Department jointly made the announcement Thursday after the indictment was returned.

Tremaine and the ATF investigated the case with assistance from the Kentucky State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Sam Dotson presented the case to the grand jury.