The final defendant in a drug trafficking scheme that exploited a US Postal Service employee to carry methamphetamine around the Cleveland area was sentenced to over 22 years in prison last week.
Sherman Thomas, 43, of Cleveland, was sentenced to 22 years and 11 months by U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Following a four-day trial, a federal jury convicted Thomas in June of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, keeping a drug premises, and possessing guns as a felon.
Thomas was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release following his imprisonment.
The drug ring ran from July 2022 to April 2023, according to court filings. Co-defendant Melvin Hodge, 44, of Sagamore Hills, travelled to the US-Mexico border to buy methamphetamine and then delivered it to Ohio via US mail.
Quinton Parries, a Solon mail carrier, provided addresses throughout his route to ensure the narcotics’ safe transportation and informed Hodge when and where to pick up the packages, which weighed between 7 and 19 pounds. Hodge then delivered the methamphetamine to Thomas.
According to authorities, Thomas ran a pill press at a property on Reyburn Road and stored drugs at his Father Caruso Drive address. When federal officials executed a search warrant at the Father Caruso Drive home in September 2022, witnesses said Thomas looked to have jumped out of a bedroom window and fled.
Agents recovered over 9 pounds of methamphetamine, including 22 bags of multicoloured pills sealed in a safe, a loaded revolver, a drug ledger, smartphones, a pill press, and a cash counter. Agents discovered pill binding agents, a gun, and another pill press at the property on Reyburn Road.
Hodge is serving a ten-year jail sentence. Carvin Cook, 46, of Cleveland, was sentenced to 41 months. Parries was sentenced to five years of probation, with eight months of house arrest.
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