Nine people have been convicted after federal prosecutors say an Ohio-based ring combined kilogram-level fentanyl and cocaine trafficking with a scheme to file more than $4.5 million in fraudulent Employee Retention Credit claims.
Nine defendants were found guilty in a multifaceted federal case that tied drug distribution and money laundering to pandemic-era fraud. The lead defendant pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, and prosecutors laid out a timeline of activity stretching across multiple states. The convictions stitch together narcotics operations and financial deception in a single investigation.
Alex Garnett, 49, of Mason entered a guilty plea to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams or more of cocaine, along with wire fraud charges. Prosecutors say those specific weight thresholds capture the seriousness of the trafficking counts on top of the financial crimes. Garnett’s plea marks the focal point of the larger conspiracy case.
According to court filings, between September 2022 and March 2024 Garnett ran a drug trafficking operation that bought kilogram quantities of fentanyl and cocaine from co-defendant sources of supply. He then funneled those shipments to other members of the conspiracy for resale on the street. The documents portray an organized distribution chain rather than isolated deals.
Investigators say the group paid special attention to hiding cash flows, moving drug proceeds into bank accounts tied to fictitious business names. That layering of funds is the money laundering thread prosecutors used to connect the narcotics sales to the broader conspiracy. Bank records and transaction patterns were central evidence in tying participants to the scheme.
Co-defendant Kimberly Hubbard, 50, of Griffin, Georgia, is accused of coordinating a separate but linked fraud: preparing materially false and fraudulent claims for Employee Retention Credits. Prosecutors allege Hubbard filed 26 fraudulent IRS forms claiming more than $4.5 million in ERC, and the IRS disbursed approximately $207,000 as a result of those claims.
The rest of the group named in the convictions spans multiple cities and includes alleged couriers, distributors, and financial operatives. The other convicted individuals include:
- Christopher Perkins, 53, of Cincinnati
- Marvious Hester, 45, of Decatur, GA
- Jorge Peraza, 36, of Mexico
- Markail Smith, 28, of Cincinnati
- Richard Watson III, 27, of Batavia, OH
- Adrian Myles, 25, of Cincinnati
- Tierra Womack, 42, of Duluth, GA
A federal grand jury returned the indictment in May 2024, setting the case on a criminal track that led to guilty pleas and convictions. Court proceedings culminated with the lead plea entered on June 5 before U.S. District Judge Michael J. Newman. Those dates and filings anchor the timeline prosecutors relied on in court.
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This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is described as a whole-of-government partnership focused on eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. The task force model brings federal, state, and local authorities together under a single investigative aim.
The HSTF framework prioritizes the full spectrum of crimes tied to organized networks, with special attention paid to offenses involving children and to tools that remove the most violent criminal aliens from the country. Prosecutors emphasized interagency cooperation and shared intelligence as key to dismantling enterprises that combine violent narcotics trafficking with sophisticated financial schemes. Cincinnati’s HSTF team includes agents and officers from multiple law enforcement partners working the case.
Officials announcing the plea included Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jared Murphey, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Detroit; and Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Assistant Deputy Criminal Chief Amy M. Smith and Assistant United States Attorney Christina E. Mahy represented the United States in the matter. The roster of prosecutors and agents underscores the multiagency approach that brought charges to resolution.
