November 18, 2024 – SACRAMENTO, CA — Kavieo Daeshaun Lee Wiley, 28, of Stockton, was sentenced Tuesday, November 12, 2024, by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and U-47700 (a synthetic opioid), and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, in May 2019, Wiley sold 4,000 methamphetamine-laced pills to a confidential source at a music studio in Stockton belonging to co-defendant Jamaine Dontae Barnes, 42, of Stockton. When agents executed a federal search warrant at the music studio, they encountered Wiley sitting on the floor with his left hand concealed between a sofa and filing cabinet. After giving Wiley repeated commands to display his left hand, an agent quickly approached Wiley, grabbed his left arm, and detained him. In the area where Wiley’s left hand had been concealed, agents found a loaded assault-style rifle. Throughout that room and the rest of the music studio, agents found large amounts of pills and powders laced with fentanyl and methamphetamine, materials for pressing the powders into pills, and a loaded handgun sitting on top of a large bag of methamphetamine-laced pills. Wiley possessed the assault-style rifle and handgun in furtherance of the crime of possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the California Highway Patrol, the San Joaquin METRO Narcotics Task Force, the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Team (TRIDENT) Task Force, the Stockton Police Department, the Sacramento County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, and the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S.  Attorneys David W. Spencer and Emily G. Sauvageau are prosecuting the case.

Co-defendant Jamaine Barnes and four other co-defendants await sentencing after pleading guilty, and three others have been sentenced. Charges are pending against Jamar Deontae Barnes, who is scheduled for a jury trial on Dec. 2, 2024. The charges against Barnes are only allegations; he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. For more information about Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, please visit Justice.gov/OCDETF. 

Photo credit: DEA

Source: DOJ Release