Date: April 19, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Brandon Bryant, of Cleveland, was sentenced 365 months (more than 30 years) in prison by U.S. District Judge John R. Adams, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug felony. Bryant was ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release following his release from prison, and will also forfeit drug-related assets, including a Rolex watch, $13,093 in U.S. Currency, and two vehicles. According to court documents, Bryant was a member of a large-scale fentanyl trafficking organization that operated on Cleveland’s eastside between September 2019 and February 2022. Bryant received large amounts of fentanyl from his codefendant Devonn Fair. Bryant then redistributed that fentanyl to customers in the Cleveland area. Fair and Bryant maintained multiple residences on the east side of Cleveland for the purpose of distributing and storing controlled substances. The organization drew fentanyl customers from as far away as Trumbull, Medina, Wayne, and Lorain Counties. Bryant was one of 24 defendants charged in this indictment. All 24 defendants have been convicted and sentenced. Other defendants previously sentenced in this case include: Devonn Fair, who was the organization’s primary fentanyl supplier and also sold fentanyl to customers (sentenced to 420 months in prison) Ramel Drew, who sold fentanyl to the organization’s customers (sentenced to 327 months in prison) Branea Bryant, who laundered the organization’s drug proceeds (sentenced to 290 months in prison) The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cartel, Gang, Narcotics, and Laundering Task Force (CGNL), with assistance from the Cleveland Division of Police, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio Investigative Unit, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Cleveland Heights Police Department, the Southeast Area Law Enforcement Task Force (SEALE), the ATF, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the DEA, and the Cuyahoga County Regional Forensic Science Laboratory. This case was prosecuted as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multiagency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. The specific mission of the OCDETF Cleveland Strike Force (SF) is to disrupt and dismantle major criminal organizations and subsidiary organizations, including criminal gangs, transnational drug cartels, racketeering organizations, and other groups engaged in illicit activities that present a threat to public safety and national security and are related to the illegal smuggling and trafficking of narcotics or other controlled substances, weapons, humans, or the illegal concealment or transfer of proceeds derived from such illicit activities in the Northern District of Ohio. The OCDETF Cleveland SF is comprised of agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Marshals Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Cleveland Division of Police, and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James Lewis, Joseph Dangelo, and James Morford.
