Performed duties as enforcer collecting drug debts in exchange for methamphetamine
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that JIMMY W. SEQUICHIE JR., age 25, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, pled guilty to DRUG CONSPIRACY, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846, 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B) and POSSESSION OF FIREARM IN FURTHERANCE OF A DRUG TRAFFICKING CRIME, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 924(c)(1)(A) and 2.
The Superseding Indictment filed on March 8, 2016, alleges that from in or about the end of 2013 and continuing until on or about Jan. 27, 2016, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant, did willfully and knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree together, and with other persons known and unknown, to Possess with Intent to Distribute and the Distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of Methamphetamine, a Schedule II Controlled Substance.
It further alleges that on or about Nov. 25, 2015, within the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant did knowingly possess a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
The Investigation revealed that Cody McClendon, an Indian Brotherhood (IBH) gang member, while an inmate with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in McAlester, Oklahoma was utilizing a contraband cellular phone that he kept hidden on his person and inside his prison cell to facilitate the sale and distribution of methamphetamine. McClendon was doing this by using the cellular phone to communicate with co-conspirators via audio phone calls, text messages, and by communicating on the social media website Facebook. SEQUICHIE was an enforcer who would threaten or commit acts of violence to assist in the collection of drug debts for the organization and would receive methamphetamine in return for his services.
The charges arose from a joint investigation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the Tahlequah Police Department, the Muskogee Police Department, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The investigation was coordinated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) of the Eastern District of Oklahoma. OCDETF is an initiative led, and coordinated by, the Office of the United States Attorney.
The Honorable Kimberly E. West, Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. The defendant will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending sentencing.
The statutory range of punishment on count one is not less than 5 years and not more than 40 years imprisonment up to a $5,000,000.00 fine or both and count two is punishable by not less than 5 years imprisonment to be served consecutive to any other term of imprisonment imposed.
Assistant United States Attorney Shannon Henson represented the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
