Date: Feb. 27, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
GRAND RAPIDS — Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Andrew Birge today announced that United States District Judge Jane M. Beckering sentenced Jason Demyers a current resident of Arizona with significant ties to Lansing, Michigan, to serve 324 months in prison for his leadership of a multistate drug trafficking conspiracy. During sentencing, Judge Beckering described Demyers as a “kingpin” in what she described as a “nationally orchestrated drug trafficking organization” that dealt massive amounts of both cocaine and methamphetamine. Demyers is the seventh defendant to be sentenced in the case.
Demyers was one of the leaders of the drug trafficking conspiracy. His organization distributed kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine in and around Detroit, Lansing, and Kalamazoo between August 2022 and July 2024. Demyers personally coordinated the shipment to Michigan of packages containing approximately ten kilograms of methamphetamine. He also worked with couriers who flew from Michigan to California carrying thousands of dollars earned from drug sales and then flew back to Michigan carrying kilograms of illegal drugs.
During the pendency of the case, investigators seized approximately ten kilograms of methamphetamine, eight kilograms of cocaine, multiple pieces of real property used to facilitate the drug trafficking conspiracy, and jewelry valued at approximately $325,000.
In total, the United States charged fourteen defendants as part of the organization. Twelve of the defendants have pled guilty, while two have entered into a pretrial diversion program. Of the defendants sentenced to date, the Court has imposed the following prison sentences:
- Franchot Barnes – 324 months
- Jomo Grady – 210 months
- Evette Wallace – 110 months
- Jamar Goins – 78 months
- Lanise Moody – 40 months
- Jonathan Conner – 37 months
The remaining defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in May and June 2025.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Lansing Police Department (LPD) began the investigation into Demyers’ drug trafficking organization in October 2022, in partnership with Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office.
“Today’s sentencing of Jason Demyers for his lead role in a national drug trafficking organization is a victory for the American public and a defeat to drug traffickers everywhere. The special agents of IRS–CI continue in their mission to disrupt the flow of ill-gotten gains that is the life-blood for these criminals,” said Special Agent in Charge Charles Miller, Detroit Field Office, IRS–CI “We will continue to be relentless in our mission to dismantle these drug trafficking organizations and bring the criminals who run them to justice.”
“This case is a prime example of how a seemingly small investigation can evolve into a large-scale operation, thanks to the dedicated collaboration between our local, state, and federal partners,” said Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus. “By working together, we’re able to target and dismantle operations led by some of the most prolific offenders.”
“DEA is committed to protecting communities throughout Michigan from drug traffickers who prey on the vulnerable,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Detroit Field Division Andrew Lawton. “Mr. Demyers ran a drug trafficking organization that funneled kilogram-quantities of drugs into Michigan along with an untold amount of misery and destruction. Together with our law enforcement partners, DEA will continue to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations that threaten safety and disrupt communities.”
This prosecution, dubbed Operation Cold as Ice, was part of an investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
Assistant United States Attorneys Stephanie M. Carowan and Austin J. Hakes prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.