FRESNO – A man named by the authorities as an associate of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang has admitted involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into a state prison, court records show.
On the plea agreement he signed, Todd “Fox” Morgan admitted that in September 2020, he and others developed a plan to smuggle methamphetamine heroin into the Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, where Morgan was being held. Morgan was not required to name accomplices or confess to the gang as part of the agreement, which is expected to be concluded in court on October 28.
As part of the Morgan conspiracy, the conspirators tried to enter the prison at night and throw soccer balls filled with drugs over the security fence, but, according to the authorities, they failed.
In exchange for his petition, the prosecutor’s office will seek a “minimum” term, although the prosecution calls for a mandatory minimum of 10 years.
Morgan will become the second person to plead federal guilty less than a year after federal and state officials detained more than 100 people as part of Operation Lucky Charm, an investigation aimed at the Aryan fraternity and Frenex gangs.
On Thursday, one of Morgan’s co-defendants, James Armstrong, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Aryan Brotherhood partner Kenneth Bash – also imprisoned in Salinas Valley – to obtain and distribute seven pounds of methamphetamine, about two ounces of which he sent to Alaska. court records show. Armstrong’s verdict is expected in January.
Bash and Morgan have been prime suspects in federal drug and arms cases, and prosecutors say Bash was on his way to becoming a full member of the Aryan Brotherhood while Morgan was already a member. They claim that Bash was the “gunman” inside a gang in Salinas Valley and operated a huge network of drug trafficking in several states from his cell, using smuggled mobile phones.
The investigation led to drug arrests in Montana, links to the Sinaloa cartel and the Mexican mafia, and evidence linking Fresnex and Aryan Brotherhood partners to a robbery and murder at a gas station in a small Southern California town, court records show.
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