Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to keep behind bars a defendant charged in connection with an alleged multimillion-dollar opioid-drug trafficking ring that was based in a Cottonwood Heights basement.
Drew Wilson Crandall, 31, has asked U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball to review a May order by a federal judge in Hawaii that he be detained pending trial. Prosecutors oppose the request, alleging the weight of the evidence against Crandall is strong and that he poses a flight risk.
A hearing on the request is set for Nov. 20.
James Bradshaw, Crandall’s defense attorney, says in a motion asking for pretrial release that his client has no criminal history and is not a danger to the community. In addition, Crandall is not a flight risk because “everything and everyone Drew loves and cares about is here in Utah,” according to the motion.
Crandall could wear an ankle monitor and check in with a pretrial service worker, Bradshaw says in the motion. He also says Crandall’s family is prepared to post the deed to the family home in Spanish Fork, if requested.
But prosecutors say no conditions of release will sufficiently ensure Crandall’s appearance at trial. They allege he worked as a leader and organizer in a long-term conspiracy to manufacture and distribute drugs and note that he faces a 10-year minimum mandatory sentence if convicted.
“A sentence of such magnitude, especially for someone new to the criminal justice system, provides a strong incentive to flee,” a prosecution memorandum says.
Crandall is charged with one count each of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, conspiracy to distribute Alprazolam and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The prosecution’s memorandum also points out that Crandall lived outside the United States for 17 months preceding his arrest. The defendant and his fiancee traveled to Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia, New Zealand and Australia during that period, according pictures posted on the fiancee’s travel blog.
“Despite their jet-setting lifestyle, it appears that [the fiancee] and Crandall had planned to call Australia home ... ,” the government memorandum says.
But the defense motion says Crandall and his fiancee had planned to get married in May, but he was taken into custody after the pair arrived in Hawaii for the wedding from Australia, where they had recently found jobs.
The two had been openly living in Australia, a country that has an extradition treaty with the United States, and had publically announced their wedding online, the motion says.
“This is not the conduct of a fugitive,” the motion says. “This is not the conduct of one who is contemplating additional criminal conduct or fleeing.”
The court case began with a November 2016 complaint alleging Aaron Michael Shamo was using a dangerous synthetic opioid to counterfeit pain pills and charging the 27-year-old Cottonwood Heights man with possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute.
Officers from several agencies raided Shamo’s home in Cottonwood Heights and a South Jordan home that was a “stash location” and seized nearly 100,000 pills, a pill press and more than $1.2 million in cash, according to federal prosecutors.
Indictments issued later added charges and five more defendants, including Crandall, to the case. The defendants are charged with various conspiracy, money-laundering and drug-related counts.
Shamo, who is charged with 12 counts, also is being detained. The other four defendants have been released pending trial.
Shamo and Crandall imported fentanyl and Alprazolam from China, then used a pill press to make fake Oxycodone and counterfeit Xanax, according to court records. They allegedly sold the pills online and laundered money through bitcoin by accepting the digital currency as payment for drugs.
The organization, which operated from at least July 8, 2015, to at least Nov. 22, 2016, quickly grew to include dozens of co-conspirators who packaged and sold the pills to the customers, court records allege. A co-conspirator also was employed to provide online customer support, a role that Crandall took up in 2016 after traveling abroad, records say.