INDICTMENT LINKS INMATES TO DRUG SCHEME

18 Charged With Conspiracy To Launder Money Made By Selling Smuggled-In
Narcotics, Running Sports Betting Ring

Inmates at the federal prison in Edgefield have been operating drug and
illegal sports-gambling rings with the help of friends and relatives on the
outside, according to a grand jury indictment opened Thursday. The 15-count
indictment handed down in May was left sealed until most of the suspects
were arrested, U.S. Attorney Scott N. Schools said.

Six inmates allegedly were involved in the arranging of shipments of heroin
from Puerto Rico and cocaine and marijuana from other sources, the
indictment charged.

Authorities say the drugs went to friends and relatives outside the prison
and were ultimately transferred to female couriers fraudulently listed as
legitimate visitors to the inmates. The women allegedly smuggled the drugs
into the prison.

The drugs, transferred during visits, were sold inside the prison.

At least three of the same inmates also ran a sports betting operation, the
indictment said. In all, 18 people were charged with conspiracy to launder
the money made by the crime rings. Among them were one inmate's parents -
the mother accused of running drugs for her son and the father accused of
providing him betting lines and odds.

More arrests are expected before the investigation is over, Mr. Schools said.

The inmates charged are Jorge Gonzalez-Vasquez, Roberto Medina, David
Crews, Roger Coleman, Thurman Ford and Raymond Clay.

The U.S. attorney said Daniel Gonzalez-Vasquez and Juan Carlos Rodriguez
are accused of supplying Puerto Rico native Jorge Gonzalez-Vasquez with
heroin from the island.

He said Mr. Crews, who authorities allege ran the gambling ring, is from
Winston-Salem, N.C., where his parents live. Jerry and Betty Crews also
face criminal charges in connection with the alleged illegal businesses.
The indictment says Desmond Cunningham, of Columbia, received heroin from
Mrs. Crews and gave it to Tameika Gordon, Bevelyn Moorer and Linda Reed,
who also are from Columbia, to take to David Crews.

North Carolinians Kristin Shamel, Carol Rothrock, Randall Shumaker and
Betty Glass also are named in the indictment as playing unspecified roles.

The inmates will be arraigned June 21 in federal court. Other defendants
have already made initial appearances before federal magistrates in
Columbia, Winston-Salem, and Puerto Rico except for Mr. Cunningham, who is
expected to appear in court today. Mr. Schools said more details about the
prison case and a related crack and cocaine ring in Columbia will emerge at
Mr. Cunningham's detention hearing.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of 40 years in prison and fines
as high as $2 million. With 15 charges in all, that could mean hefty
sentences for those named in multiple counts.

The alleged inside crimes were investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations
Division; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Richland County
Sheriff's Department; South Carolina National Guard; Columbia Police
Department; and U.S. Bureau of Prisons, all of which worked together on the
Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force.

The disclosure of possible crime rings came after another serious incident
at the Edgefield prison in late May, when an inmate fatally stabbed another
with a makeshift ice pick, eyewitnesses said.

Ronnie Bazel Jr., 25, of Athens, Tenn., who was serving a 10-year sentence
for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine base, was pronounced dead
at Edgefield County Hospital less than an hour after he was stabbed in the
chest.

Willie Earl Clark, 53, of Chicago, serving 25 years for possessing a
firearm despite a felony record, surrendered his weapon to prison staff
after the stabbing, prison officials said. He is in the Special Housing
Unit while the FBI and corrections staff continue their investigation.

Prison spokesman Mike Smith said Thursday that no formal charges have been
filed in the May 28 stabbing and that no motive has been determined.