Two more implicated in drug distribution ring

by CJ Baker

Powell Tribune

Via Wyoming News

Exchange

POWELL — In September, two local residents were caught by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents with what appeared to be 7,000 fentanyl pills and a pound of meth outside Meeteetse. The pair was arrested and charged, but the investigation of the couple — and, allegedly, a drug ring — continued.

In October, agents caught two more people with another 3,500 pills south of Buffalo.

All four are now facing felony charges in connection with the alleged conspiracy, and authorities believe several of the suspects played outsized roles in distributing fentanyl and meth around Cody and Billings, Montana.

After hearing some of the evidence at an October hearing, Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah remarked that the quantities of pills discovered in the Meeteetse traffic stop “would have a tendency to cause other people to become addicted — if they don’t OD and die.”

“So it is a huge, huge public safety concern,” Darrah said.

The two Cody residents who were arrested in September — 35-year-old Korrine A. McKay and 58-year-old Wayne W. Wright II — remain in the Park County Detention Center, with bond set at $500,000.

As for the two men arrested outside of Buffalo in October, 65-year-old Edwin E. Higbie Jr. of Billings is out on a $50,000 bond pending further proceedings while 42-year-old Alex Cervantes of Thornton, Colorado, remains in the Johnson County Detention Center on a $25,000 cash or surety bond.

According to testimony from DCI Special Agent Shane Reece, the September arrests stemmed from a months-long investigation that initially focused on McKay and Higbie.

Reece testified that the suspects are believed to have been large distributors in Cody and Billings.

The first set of arrests followed extensive work that included tracking McKay’s vehicle and phone, interviews with multiple people and listening to calls placed between McKay and her jailed boyfriend, Reece indicated. It was through those efforts that agents came to believe that Wright and McKay had made a drug run to Colorado on Sept. 22.

At DCI’s direction, a Park County Sheriff’s deputy pulled the two over as they were heading back to Cody, stopping them just south of Meeteese on Sept. 23.

Agents ultimately found enough apparent fentanyl (7,000 pills) and meth (over a pound) in the vehicle that the combined street value may have topped $250,000.

McKay was caught hiding 2,000 of the pills beneath her seat, and, according to Reece, she claimed those as her own. She also allegedly admitted to having plans to redistribute the drugs in Montana and Wyoming.

For his part, Wright claimed he’d only gone as far south as Casper before invoking his right to remain silent. At his first court hearing, he protested, saying that “I was just the driver in this.”

McKay, however, told a different story.

According to Reece’s testimony, McKay indicated that the pound of meth and additional pills found in the back belonged to Wright. Authorities also found $7,000 in cash in the vehicle, and McKay indicated that’s because Wright had planned to purchase multiple pounds of meth, Reece said.

The problem, the agent testified, was that the supplier in Aurora, Colorado, “was out.”

The supplier did allegedly have fentanyl on hand, however: McKay indicated that Wright had also purchased 2,000 pills from that man.

As for the remaining 3,000 pills discovered, McKay indicated they’d been purchased from a different supplier in Colorado sometime earlier, and that they’d tried to return/exchange the drugs.

“They [the pills] tested as fentanyl, presumptively, but they are not, for lack of a better term, as ‘good’ as the fentanyl an addict or user would expect,” Reece said of McKay’s account, saying she relayed that customers had described the pill as “weak.”

The dealer reportedly refused to take the pills back.

“... No money back refunds in the drug business, huh?” Wright’s defense attorney, Tim Blatt, mused at a preliminary hearing.

“No, sir,” said Reece.

The agent said authorities were told that Wright generally stuck to selling meth while acquiring fentanyl for Higbie. Some of the pills that were seized from Wright’s vehicle in September were supposed to have been delivered to Higbie, the agent testified.

After Wright and McKay were jailed, DCI continued to keep tabs on Higbie, and agents allege he made a drug run of his own in late October.

Using “various investigative techniques,” Reece said they learned that Higbie was in the Denver area on Oct. 23. As he was traveling north on Interstate 25 between Kaycee and Buffalo on Oct. 24, agents asked the Wyoming Highway Patrol to pull Higbie over. When a patrol K9 alerted to the odor of a controlled substance, an “extremely nervous” Higbie told the troopers they would find a small amount of marijuana inside, Reece wrote in an affidavit.

Troopers did find a small amount of the drug — but they also found apparent fentanyl powder, a small amount of meth, and 3,500 apparent fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills.

Both Higbie and his passenger, Cervantes, were arrested and later charged with felony counts of conspiracy to possess a felony amount of fentanyl and possession of fentanyl with intent to deliver.

Higbie also faces misdemeanor counts of possessing a small amount of meth and marijuana.

Following his arrest, Higbie allegedly admitted to traveling to Colorado and buying fentanyl in bulk for resale.

“This corroborated statements obtained from other co-conspirators implicating Higbie Jr. as a large distributor of fentanyl in Montana and Wyoming,” Reece wrote.

As for Cervantes, he allegedly admitted to serving as a “middle man” by introducing Higbie to suppliers and facilitating a sale.

Cervantes is being held on a $25,000 cash or surety bond.

Higbie, meanwhile, posted a $50,000 cash bond roughly a week after his arrest.

Following an Oct. 3 preliminary hearing, McKay asked to be released to a treatment program.

“All I really want is to get the help I need,” she said.

McKay said she’s disgusted with herself and wants to become more of a citizen that her family and children can be proud of, “because right now I know I’ve disappointed everyone in the state of Wyoming and in my community, and I am very sorry.”

Judge Darrah responded that treatment is always good for someone with a possession charge. However, he said this case goes well beyond that, with the evidence suggesting an attempt to deliver a large amount of narcotics. The judge declined to lower the half-million dollar bond.

While McKay is jailed, “I’m sorry that your kids are going to be without you,” Darrah said. “But there’s other people who have lost family members on … these kinds of drugs, and they don’t get to see their kids anymore.”

McKay pleaded not guilty last month and faces an April 14 trial date. Wright and Cervantes have yet to enter pleas while Higbie is set for a preliminary hearing in Johnson County Circuit Court on Feb. 3.