Lorain woman one of 11 charged in international drug trafficking conspiracy

A Lorain woman is one of 11 people who have been charged in federal court in Cleveland with taking part in an international drug trafficking conspiracy involving the import of fentanyl, synthetic opioids and synthetic cannabinoids into the U.S. for distribution in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee and elsewhere. Jessica Cochran, 28, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, international money laundering conspiracy and use of a communications facility to facilitate a felony drug offense, according to court records and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio. Several defendants were arrested Tuesday and taken to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland, while others were in custody in other places, including as far away as Italy, federal prosecutors said. Federal prosecutors said Ohio prison inmate Brian "B" Lumbus Jr., 43, helped coordinate the drug trafficking from behind bars. Also charged in a 34-count indictment were Brianna Lumbus, 22, Marchello "Chello" Lumbus, 42, and Braisia Lumbus, 23, all of Cleveland; Kayla Goudlock, 25, of North Royalton; Latasha Harris, 40, of Toledo; Dominique Hammond, 37, of Pittsburgh; Jennifer Robinson, 38, and Wanda Ward, 46, both of Tennessee; and Giancarlo "Karl" Miserotti, 51, of Italy. The charges include conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, substantive possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, international money laundering conspiracy and using a communications facility (such as a phone) to facilitate a felony drug offense. Starting in April 2016 and through Nov. 1, the defendants allegedly sold drugs containing fentanyl, Isotonitazene, Metonitazene, Alpha-PiHP, and ADB-BUTINACA. In one case, a person in Tennessee died after taking the drugs, according to court records. Brian Lumbus is an inmate in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, where he is serving an 11½-year prison sentence for crimes committed in Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Warren counties, including engaging in corrupt acts, drug trafficking, identity theft and other charges, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. His expected release date from that prison sentence is March 13, 2024, according to online ODRC records. Federal prosecutors said Brian Lumbus ordered "significant quantities" of drugs from Miserotti, who arranged for kilograms of drugs to be exported from other foreign countries first to Italy, then to the U.S. for redistribution. The alleged conspirators in the U.S. received the shipments, cut and mixed the drugs, and sold them. Some then paid Miserotti for the drugs in Bitcoin cryptocurrency, prosecutors said. The ODRC investigators uncovered evidence of the criminal activity and contacted the State Highway Patrol and DEA for further investigation, federal prosecutors said. Multiple times between June 2021 and June 26 this year, Cochran received packages from China containing suspected drugs, including at an address on Fulmer Drive in Lorain, according to her indictment. She also had three-way phone calls with Brian Lumbus and Marchello Lumbus in July 2021 that were recorded, and emailed Miserotti in October 2021 asking where to send Bitcoin payments, according to her indictment. In one incident, drugs that were shipped to Ward in Tennessee killed a person in October 2022 and Ward was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly providing them to the victim, according to federal court records. The alleged conspirators then discussed in a phone call how the drugs were too strong, according to the indictment. "From the confines of the Ohio Penitentiary, Brian Lumbus led an international and interstate drug trafficking organization that brought fentanyl and other, more potent synthetic drugs from overseas factories to the streets of our region," U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko said Tuesday. "Several others, both in the United States and outside it, acted in concert with Lumbus to do what he physically could not: obtain, assemble and repackage those drugs, then mail or deliver them to other conspirators for further distribution." The investigation, part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces probe intended to identify, disrupt and dismantle high-level drug trafficking, money laundering, gang activity and transnational criminal organizations, was conducted by the OSHP, ODRC and the DEA.Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on X, formerly Twitter.