U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announces new charges in major D.C.-area meth bust

U.S. Attorney Janine Pirro about to hold a press conference surrounding a major meth bust. Let's go and take a live look at Being here today, 15 defendants are charged in a 12 count superseding indictment that reflects our continuing commitment to prosecuting the dirt bags who are flooding our streets with the poison that is killing families, killing individuals and destroying families and neighborhoods every day across America. This is an operation that is consistent with President Trump's executive order to make DC safe and beautiful. It is, of course, part of the Homeland Security Task Force that brings a whole of government approach to government partnership dedicated to eliminating the threats against American people. Five months ago, you may recall that I stood before you and I announced the results of a major investigation that we called Liquid Ice that resulted in an 11 defendant indictment, charging conspiracies to distribute methamphetamine, gamma butyrolactone, known as GBL, which of course is a popular date rape drug. As I said then, this case was international in scope. The defendants got their GBL from South Korea. They got their meth from California and other cities in the United States. Our initial indictment exposed an extensive drug trafficking networking operation along the East Coast, specifically through the Acela Corridor, reaching Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Now, every one of the 11 defendants still faces a mandatory minimum of 11 years in federal prison if convicted, and eight of them are in jail from the day that they were arrested while they await trial. Today, we announce a spinoff, a continuation of that initial case from five months ago. Our work and the work of the people behind me has not stopped. We added four new defendants, three here in DC and one in Philadelphia. All four newly added defendants are charged with conspiring to distribute 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine in its purest form. Charges again that carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. One defendant, Peter Rothberg, is also charged with conspiring to distribute GBL. Now let me introduce these defendants to you. They are high level defendants in the pyramid that we are investigating. Russell Martin Wilson is 40 years old. He is from Philadelphia. He is a previously convicted felon with both prior drug as well as gun convictions. After him is Joseph Macias, age 47, of Washington, D.C. Jason Fraser, age 52, also of Washington, D.C., and Peter Rothberg, age 42, of Washington, D.C. Now, these charges are supported by the results of a sweeping and a very disciplined investigation. And I'm sure that the people who come after me will talk about how this was a good old-fashioned investigation. To date, this investigation has resulted in the seizure of enormous amounts of illegal narcotics, including 87 kilograms of methamphetamine. That's almost 200 pounds. 827 kilograms of GBL, the date rape drug, that is over 1,800 pounds. 1.5 metric tons of GBL seized by Korean authorities abroad. 57 kilograms of ketamine, that's 126 pounds 3.2 kilograms of MDMA seven pounds and nearly half a kilogram of cocaine which is about a pound and of course there are synthetic opioids and heroin in smaller quantities now i want to put this in perspective for you a typical dose of crystal meth is approximately 0.1 to 0.3 grams. That means roughly 87 kilograms or 200 pounds of the methamphetamine that we see so far in our investigation represents close to a half a million doses on the street. Half a million doses that will now not make it onto the streets or into the hands of users, dealers, or drug traffickers. Yesterday, we executed the takedown associated with this superseding indictment. The operation involved five residential search warrants, three warrants for storage units, and two vehicle warrants. All four defendants were arrested yesterday. And in this latest takedown alone, agents seized over 13 pounds of methamphetamine specifically from defendant Mathias, and $16,000 in cash and money counters specifically from Mathias. Some of what you see displayed before you. What is very different and notable about this drug conspiracy is not that the defendants have extensive drug trafficking histories, three of them do not, but rather the sophistication of their operation. These were, relatively speaking, well-educated individuals trafficking massive amounts of dangerous narcotics in our nation's capital and bringing them directly to the streets to do business. Now, what's interesting is methamphetamines in the nation's capital are rising. That is a fact that we take extremely seriously right now. We see the trend, and it is real. In total, as I've mentioned before, we've seized about 200 pounds of methamphetamine. The wholesale value of those drugs is estimated between a quarter and a half a million dollars. On the street, that translates to $1.5 to $6 million. And at the same time, we've seen a notable decline in fentanyl seizures. But while fentanyl trafficking has dropped, a new methamphetamine network is trying to establish a foothold here in Washington, D.C. Let me be absolutely clear. It ain't happening. And today is part of our effort to make sure that it doesn't. Now, methamphetamines are now the second most commonly found drug in people who fatally overdose, second only to fentanyl. That is why the work that the people behind me do is so darn important. And thanks to President Trump's 2025 executive order to make DC safe and beautiful, through the Homeland Security Task Force, my office alone in DC has seen 1,500 pounds of methamphetamines, nearly a half a million dollars in virtual currency, and nearly a million dollars in cash. These are meaningful disruptions to the drug traffickers. We are hurting them. They know that we're onto them. And they, as a result of this moving up the pyramid and the ladder, understand we will spare no one in our effort to disrupt the devastation that is going on to American families, not just across America, but here in Washington, D.C. I want to thank our partners in DEA, and I want to thank the Homeland Security Investigations IRS, MPD, our state and local partners up and down the eastern coast, eastern seaboard. This is the kind of work that requires persistence, coordination, and a level of dedication and determination that only comes from people who are driven to stop this kind of crime. And now I'd like to call on DEA Washington Division Special Agent in Charge, Cindy Marks. Good afternoon. That's a strong draft. Ready when you are. All right. Yeah, I'm ready when I am. All right. Good afternoon. I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to Judge Pirro, Acting HSI SAC Chen, and IRS SAC Carter, and the entire team for their determination and dedication and commitment to this investigation. The criminals involved in these operations, more than 15 apprehended so far, have pushed too far by distributing dangerous drugs and threatening the well-being of our people, our community, and our children. Let me tell you this. We are firm in our resolve. We have the drive, the motivation, and above all, the responsibility to safeguard our community and our American lives. These drug traffickers are responsible for distributing, flooding our streets with methamphetamine and GBL, which is a precursor chemical for GHB, from all the way from South Korea to Washington, D.C., and then redistributing it across the United States. Meth is exceptionally dangerous because it's highly addictive. Let me be clear. It's toxic. It causes catastrophic damage to our brain, our mind, and our body. These criminals operated a complex, multi-layered drug trafficking network stretching from D.C. and across the entire East Coast. They had plans to expand their drug trafficking network into other parts of our country. We are going after all of them. Together with our Homeland Security and Safe and Beautiful Task Force partners, we will succeed this special operation emphasizes our message if you break the law if you are making and selling drugs we will come direct to you we will hold you accountable all of us here today are committed to protecting our nation's capital eradicating violence from our streets and standing united with our federal state local and most importantly our community partners thank you Thanks. And now, HSI Washington, D.C. Acting Special Agent in Charge, Kaiwa Chan. Thank you, Judge Carroll. Thank you, Cindy, and thank you, Kareem. Good afternoon, and thank you all for being here. My name is Kaiwa Chan, the Acting SAC for the Homeland Security Washington, D.C. Office. I am proud to stand here today with our partners from across the government to announce another milestone in the Homeland Security Task Force operation. Today, with our partners, we continue to work in disrupting the networks that funnel of deadly drugs into the United States and into our communities. Drug trafficking investigations are notoriously complex. They cross jurisdictions, they cross disciplines, and they cross borders. This is precisely why the Homeland Security Task Force was created and why it's critical to protecting our communities. Together, we bring each agency's expertise to focus on one united mission. Protecting the homeland is not the job of a single agency. The Homeland Security Task Force was created to bring us together to make our country safer one investigation at a time. thank you that's it that's it short and sweet questions thank you yeah yeah you're gonna go um yesterday there was another uh no bill recurring in federal court it wasn't your office wasn't my office i ain't talking about it i'm not talking about it wasn't my office thank you for making that public yes i wasn't because it wasn't my case are you worried about just this is not are you worried more broadly you know when you see so many no bills about trust with dc jurors is there anything is that something you're worried about is there anything you're doing to sort of build more trust with dc jurors well you know i think the important thing and i think that's a fair question i do you're welcome um i think that uh it is important for the people in the district to kind of look around and see what has happened since we got here this place was an extremely violent place. Two and a half years ago, you had a homicide rate. I'm not even talking about carjackings, a homicide rate that was on a par with the capital of third world countries. This is the nation's capital. It's the United States of America. It's a shining city on the hill. And thank goodness that President Trump gave us the resources to fight. And if people want to attribute politics or whatever, I can't change that. The only thing that I can do is fight the good fight. And we got up every day and we do that. We get up every day and we say to 70% more victims, we're gonna hear your case. the guy before me didn't even want to hear your case he got dragged before congress because 70% of the arrests he wouldn't even prosecute that's the only thing I can say you know is it whatever their reason is you know people suggest it may be X, Y, or Z I'm not a mind reader but what I do is the people behind me and my staff David Hennick Wright here you know violent crime narcotics we just fight the good fight every day, and we hope for the best. And that's enough. Is there a problem with your team in cases that have nothing to do with politics, or is this sort of just limited to cases that have some sort of political aspect? You know, I think that there's a lot of questions they have in this jurisdiction. For whatever reason, I wasn't here before. I don't know what caused it, but I always respect the jury's decision whatever their decision is i have to respect it in new york yeah um you might have already known what exactly was confiscated yesterday how many pounds of what guns as well and then the overall number of the entire operation is this non-violent i didn't see any guns or is it just run the gamut go ahead david so what you what you see before you is uh pretty much everything that was seized yesterday it's uh 16 pounds of meth uh most of that came from mr macias's residence fifteen thousand dollars in cash i think they got two cash counters uh and there was one firearm from a convicted felon uh it is you know uh this was not a gun case this was a methamphetamine case and that's what you see and that builds on to a former case and there was much more in that case as well yes the one from five months ago go ahead close to close to 200 pounds total she's in this case you're welcome okay anyone else good to see you no um so the grand jury yesterday failed to indict Cassidy Hutchinson uh that's not my case i'm not going to comment on anything on the meth case okay well thank you me you think i'm going to talk about elections not a chance huh no i got nothing to say but i have more points okay okay Hey, it's not 75 bucks.