Credit: Submitted
Several men await sentencing in connection to an operation that reportedly transported large quantities of drugs from California to Bucks and Montgomery counties.
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As part of the investigation by the Bucks County Detectives and other law enforcement agencies, six men were charged and five have been arrested.
Matthew Byrne, 45, of Broomall, Montgomery County; Joseph Byrne, 49, of Bristol Township’s Levittown section; Khalik Kemp, 36, of Philadelphia; and Christian Garwood, 57, of Flourtown, Montgomery County, pleaded guilty at the Bucks County Justice Center to charges of corrupt organizations and drug-related offenses. Chaz Brandon Russel Harness-Walker, 42, of Inglewood, California, pleaded no contest to employee of a corrupt organization and criminal use of a communication facility, according to court records.
Ralph Brooks, 43, of Los Angeles, was charged and continues to have a warrant out for his arrest.
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The five who have pleaded in the case are due to the sentenced later this month and in October.
Investigators described the “Byrne Drug Trafficking Organization” as a network that used California’s proximity to Mexico to secure low-cost cocaine and methamphetamine. The drugs were then moved across the country to be sold for profits in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
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The enterprise relied on a divided division of labor, including brokers, distributors, transporters, storage coordinators, and street-level dealers, to maintain operations, authorities said.
To transport the illicit cargo, the group shipped drug-filled packages using expedited, next-day delivery services under fake names and addresses. Narcotics were frequently stashed inside homemade wooden boxes and Bluetooth speakers to bypass detection, detectives said.
Credit: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
Law enforcement intercepted and tracked several of these shipments coming from the Los Angeles area.
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Deliveries were traced to residences on Gable Hill Road and Indian Creek Drive in Levittown, as well as a location in Flourtown, authorities said.
Detectives stated that Matthew Byrne and accomplices broke down and repackaged the intercepted bulk drugs at Byrne’s business on Bethlehem Pike in Flourtown.
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“This was incredibly profitable and also a multifaceted criminal enterprise. In parts, it was complex. In other parts, it was quiet simplistic,” then-District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said following the filing of charges in 2024.
The investigation included informant interviews, covert surveillance, wiretaps, and package searches.
Credit: Court papers
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In July 2024, search warrants were executed in the region. They led to the seizure of drugs, drug paraphernalia, firearms, and cash, police said.
The multi-agency investigation was spearheaded by the Bucks County Detectives, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assisting agencies included police departments from Bristol Township, Middletown Township, Radnor Township, Whitemarsh Township, Philadelphia, and Louisville, Kentucky, alongside the Pennsylvania State Police, the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, and Delaware County Criminal Investigations.
The five co-defendants are free after posting bail, court records stated.
