August 07, 2024
Provided Image/Bucks County D.A.
Bucks County prosecutors have charged six people with smuggling cocaine and methamphetamines from California to Pennsylvania. The drugs were allegedly shipped across the country concealed inside bluetooth karaoke speakers.
Six men are facing charges in Bucks County for allegedly buying cocaine and methamphetamines in California and shipping the drugs to Pennsylvania by hiding them inside bluetooth karaoke speakers, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The operation allegedly was led by Matthew James Byrne, 43, of Broomall, Delaware County. He is accused of making nine trips to Los Angeles this year to buy the drugs and send them to his brother's home in Bristol Township, Bucks County and to locations in Montgomery County. The smuggled drugs were worth millions of dollars on the street, investigators said.
Twelve shipments of drugs – concealed inside the speakers or in homemade wooden boxes – made it to their destinations in the Philadelphia suburbs, prosecutors said. Another three shipments were intercepted at a UPS facility in Louisville, Kentucky. The amount of drugs in those three shipments is estimated to be worth $1.2 million, authorities said.
"This case shows there are no limits to the lengths traffickers will go to make a profit dealing poisons that devastate families and communities," Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a statement.
Byrne allegedly made his trips to Los Angeles once or twice a month and stayed two to three days at a time. He preferred to buy drugs there because the proximity to Mexico offered cheaper prices for narcotics, investigators said. When he shipped the drugs to Pennsylvania, Byrne allegedly listed fake names as the recipients of the packages.
The drug deals allegedly were arranged in Los Angles with Ralph Brooks, 42, who prosecutors said is a member of the city's Crips gang.
The others charged are Byrne's older brother, Joseph, 47; Khalik Kemp, 34, of Philadelphia; Christian Garwood, 55, of Flourtown, Montgomery County; and Chaz Harness-Walker, 40, of Inglewood, California. Prosecutors said the men worked with Bryne to buy and sell the drugs in Philadelphia and its suburbs. All but Brooks and Harness-Walker, who have yet to be taken into custody, are being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility.
The charges against the six men include corrupt organizations, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, conspiracy, criminal use of a communication facility and related offenses.
Detectives executed a search warrant on July 18 at multiple residences in Philadelphia, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. In addition to seizing cocaine and other drugs, authorities said they recovered four guns and more than $20,000 in cash. Two of the bluetooth karaoke speakers suspected to have been used to transport the drugs also were seized and found to have cocaine residue inside them, prosecutors said.
The drug bust comes after another investigation in Bucks County uncovered a similar pipeline from California to Pennsylvania last September. In that case, four people from Pennsylvania and two from California were charged when authorities seized about $3.5 million worth of drugs, more than 40 guns and upwards of 100,000 rounds of ammunition, prosecutors said. The drugs in that investigation included cocaine, meth, fentanyl and marijuana.
At the time, authorities said their investigation was ongoing, but prosecutors did not make any connection between the two cases on Wednesday.
Matthew Byrne is being held on $5 million bail; Joseph Byrne and Kemp are being held on $3 million bail; and Garwood is being held on $1 million bail.
"One can only imagine how many lives were spared by the interception of these dangerous drugs," Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said Wednesday. "I hope the outcome of this investigation serves to warn drug dealers in our community that you will be identified, caught, and prosecuted for your crimes and we will not tolerate criminal enterprises that profit from those who suffer from addiction."
