A California man was convicted on Friday, August 26, by a federal jury, for his involvement in a conspiracy to traffic over a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of methamphetamine and marijuana into the Natchez, Mississippi area.
According to court documents, from 2016 through 2018, 57-year-old Arthur Wilson, from Moreno Valley, California, conspired with Wesley Bell of Natchez, MS, Jimmie Lee Swearengen, Jr., of Mesquite, TX, Thomas Jerome Mitchell and Justine Chambers of Victorville, CA, and Kevin Singleton, formerly of Natchez, MS, to traffic kilograms of methamphetamine and marijuana into the Natchez area for distribution and sale.
Wilson was also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering for his role in moving more than $345,000 in drug proceeds from Natchez to his drug suppliers in California.
Wilson will be sentenced on November 9. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $10 million fine.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
