SAVANNAH, GA: The latest of five defendants in a two-state drug trafficking organization awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in federal court.
Jaqueline Somesso, 55, of Savannah, faces up to 30 years of statutory imprisonment after pleading guilty to information alleging misconduct of a felony and bank fraud, said Jill E. Steinberg, US Attorney for the South District Georgia. The guilty plea confirms Somesso is responsible for using fake bank statements to illegally obtain nearly $600,000 in COVID-19 relief funds. After completing a prison sentence, Somesso must be released under supervision for up to three years. There is no probation in the federal system.
“The extraordinary work of our law enforcement partners identified and dismantled this operation that poured illegal drugs into our communities while simultaneously ripping off the American taxpayer,” said US Attorney Steinberg. “The five guilty pleas in this case are a testament to the strength of the prosecution, which has been carefully constructed in conjunction with our office.”
The guilty pleas in the United States v. Kinchen, et al. are a result of “Operation All Eyes On Me,” an investigation by the Organized Crime Task Forces that identified traffickers selling cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana in middle and middle events distributed in South Georgia and in Florida. The 15-count indictment, which was unsealed in August 2022, named five defendants who were identified through a series of controlled purchases, phone tapping and searches of multiple properties conducted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and agents from the Savannah-Chatham Counter Narcotics Team became.
In addition to Somesso, the accused include:
- Dennis Rodriguez Kinchen, 44, of Dublin, Georgia, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess 500 grams or more of cocaine and a quantity of methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in December 2022; and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Kinchen, who has been identified as the source of the drugs distributed by the conspiracy, faces a statutory prison sentence of up to 40 years. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit an Atlanta condo purchased with proceeds from the conspiracy, which also included wire fraud by misusing more than $300,000 in loans from the Small Business Administration’s COVID Economic Injury Disaster Fund, mixed with illegal drug proceeds, included . Kinchen has been identified as Somesso’s boyfriend, who admitted she knew he kept illegal firearms and drugs at her home.
- Sherman Levon Scott, 54, of Pooler Ga., is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana in March 2023. The investigation identified Scott as a distributor in the drug trafficking conspiracy, and a January 29, 2022 law enforcement search of his home turned up a kilo of cocaine, 3 pounds of marijuana, crack cocaine and cash. Scott’s plea subjects him to a statutory sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
- Angel Amaral, 56, of Hollywood, Fla., is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute cocaine in January 2023. Identified during investigation as a source of cocaine in the Florida drug trafficking conspiracy, Amaral faces a statutory sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
- Tony Heldore, 52, of Richmond Hill, Georgia, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana in March 2023. Identified as the conspiracy’s marijuana supplier, Heldore faces a statutory sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Heldore was an employee of Somesso, working at Karma Entertainment and Lux Gentlemen’s Club in Hardeeville, SC
The government is demanding the forfeiture of nearly $900,000 in conspiracy funds. Scott and Heldore’s sentencing is scheduled for August 10, 2023 in US District Court in Savannah before US District Court Judge R. Stan Baker. Sentences for the other defendants will be scheduled after the completion of the investigation prior to sentencing by the US Parole Services.
“Operation ‘All Eyes On Me’ was a tremendous success in bringing down a once thriving drug trafficking organization,” said Robert J. Murphy, the special agent in charge of the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta Field Division. “This criminal organization has reached its final chapter and its members are facing a well-deserved prison sentence.”
The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-gathering, multi-agency approach.
Operation All Eyes On Me was investigated and prosecuted for the United States by the Savannah District Office of the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Savannah-Chatham Counter Narcotics Team with support from the DEA Miami Field Division, the Internal Revenue Service and the US Secret Service follows America by Marcela C. Mateo, Assistant US Attorney and OCDETF Coordinator for the Southern District of Georgia.
