DULUTH, Minn. – Federal agents broke a Chicago-based drug ring for a massive distribution system that included traffickers in Duluth and Hibbing, Superior and Virgnia. U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger traveled to Duluth to announce indictments accusing eight people of conspiring and selling fentanyl and methamphetamine. Luger said he Duluth point person was Matthew James “EZ” Erickson, age35. Luger identified the leader as Cordero “Cash” Lucas, 32, of Chicago. Also indicted, all from Chicago
> Carl Maurice Brown, 32.
> Robert Desean Chism, 35.
> Anthony Lenard Green, 34.
> Arreal Dominique Timberlake, 30.
> Deandre Michael Westmoreland, 35.
> Pharoo Nasun Witherspoon, 35.
The investigation spanned 27 months beginning in 2021, Luger said. Heer said undercover agents purchased drugs on at least 12 occasions. The Arrowhead region has had an opioid epidemic. In 2013 there were 663 overdoses — two a day on average. Sixty-one were fatal. Said Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa: “We know that these people are violent predatory offenders who pick on and go after some of our most vulnerable people.”