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Local gang leader jailed for drug trafficking

Tahlequah Daily Press - 6/2/2017

June 02--MUSKOGEE -- A Tahlequah gang leader has been sentenced to 386 months imprisonment, without the possibility of parole.

Cody Lee McClendon III, 36, received the sentence, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine. The sentences will run concurrently and McClendon was ordered to pay $240,000 in fines.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced the decision Thursday.

McClendon, while serving a 20-year sentence for robbery in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary from 2008 until 2016, used cell phones illegally smuggled into the prison to coordinate the acquisition and distribution of at least 30 kilograms of meth within the state.

He is also said to be a leader of the Indian Brotherhood, a gang whose members are primarily of Native American descent. Prosecutors said the gang has expectations and commands, which must be followed by every member, each of whom is controlled by a "war chief." That person makes command decisions concerning actions to be taken by his "tribe." The gang uses this structure to coordinate the distribution of controlled substances, collections of monies owed for controlled substances, and the protection by force of other members and their drug-trafficking interests within and outside the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

While incarcerated, McClendon and another gang member inmate enlisted the aid of a corrections officer to obtain and provide them with contraband items. The corrections officer was arrested after law enforcement witnessed McClendon coconspirators provide him with half a kilogram of marijuana for eventual distribution inside the prison. Authorities later found marijuana and 10 ounces of methamphetamine, packaged for eventual distribution at the officer's house.

In previous hearings, 18 co-defendants throughout the state were also sentenced for their roles in the McClendon drug-trafficking case.

"The positive impact this investigation and subsequent prosecution has had on the communities within the Eastern District of Oklahoma will be felt for some time," said Douglas A. Horn, acting U.S. attorney. "The combined effort of multiple state, local, and federal agencies ensured that drug traffickers, no matter where they are located or how difficult it may be to target their activities, will be brought to justice and held accountable for the physical and mental anguish they inflict on the lives and families of those who find themselves involved in the downward spiral of drug use and addiction."

The charges arose from a joint investigation titled "Home of the Brave," coordinated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force of the Eastern District of Oklahoma. The task force is an initiative led and coordinated by the Office of the U.S. Attorney.

Agencies involved in the probe were the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the McAlester Police Department, the Tahlequah Police Department, the Muskogee Police Department, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, Districts 13, 18, 25 and 27 District Attorney's Drug Task Forces and Violent Crime Task Forces, the Muskogee County District Attorney's Office, the Seminole Nation Lighthorse Police Department, ODC, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the McAlester and Tulsa Offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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(c)2017 the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.)

Visit the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.) at www.tahlequahdailypress.com

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