TOPEKA Local and federal law enforcement authorities Wednesday announced the indictment of 54 people in a drug-trafficking ring in Manhattan.
That ring, with suppliers tracked back to Chicago, was responsible for distributing heroin, fentanyl, ecstasy, methamphetamine, hydrocodone, cocaine and marijuana in the Manhattan area, the authorities said. U.S. Attorney for Kansas Stephen McCallister called it the largest takedown his office had ever conducted.
Six dealers are charged in particular with causing the death in September 2017 of Maxwell F. Dandaneau, an 18-year-old student at Kansas State University, at an off-campus apartment.
McAllister said the young man, who had attended Eisenhower Middle School and Manhattan High and was the son of an administrator at K-State, was trying heroin for the first time and was unaware that it was laced with fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic more powerful than heroin.
That death followed by about a month the beginning of a criminal investigation by the Riley County Police Department into the network, according to Capt. Tim Hegarty. The investigation was able to tie the death to that drug ring. Blake Woodward, 23, is charged with directly distributing the fentanyl that caused his overdose; others charged in the conspiracy include Henry Clark, 42; Sylvester Calvert, 31, of Manhattan; Michael Calvert, 28, of Manhattan; and James Toliver, 39, of Manhattan.
Hegarty said other deaths may be related to the drug ring, including people who were both users and dealers, but authorities provided no other details on that.
The distribution ring, authorities said, was basically one organization with a hierarchy that traced back to Chicago, with supply lines from Mexico and China.
A statement released at the time of the announcement in Topeka says: Law enforcement officers called the investigation Operation Chicago Connection, based on the fact that in 2016 investigators began to hear talk on the streets of this college town about traffickers who some sources called the Chicago Boys. In the following months, investigators worked to get a clearer picture of what was going on. What they learned was that some traffickers were making regular trips to Chicago to bring back heroin, fentanyl and other drugs.
Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson said that some of the members of the ring have lived here for 20 years. RCPD Director Dennis Butler said that a case that became this large required help from federal authorities.
Roughly 35 people were arrested Tuesday as law enforcement authorities served arrest warrants and search warrants in Topeka and Manhattan. Defendants were expected to begin making initial appearances in federal court in Topeka on Wednesday. The arrests stem from 13 separate indictments.
Federal authorities, including the Drug Enforcement Administration office in St. Louis and the FBI, were in on the case. Their representatives also emphasized the danger of fentanyl in particular, saying its being mixed into other drugs at levels that could be lethal. They asked for the publics help in combatting that problem.
