Thirty-one-year-old Craig Petties, who once headed a cocaine and marijuana distribution network, was arrested in Mexico on Friday, January 11th, according to U.S. Attorney David Kustoff.
Petties is charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana and possession of cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute. He was added to the U.S. Marshals Top 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list in August 2004 and was featured on an episode of TV’s America’s Most Wanted.
The Mexican Government, in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Marshals Service, apprehended Petties, a female companion, and three others. Several firearms were seized. Petties is being held in Mexico pending his return to the U.S. for prosecution.
The conspiracy count alleges that Petties and several accomplices organized delivery of cocaine from Texas into the Western District of Tennessee. It also alleges that Petties’ partners attempted to kill others to facilitate continued drug trafficking.
Petties was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in 2002. Last year, the case was expanded to include nine others for conspiring to distribute cocaine through the Petties drug organization. All of the defendants in the case have now been arrested.
–Bianca Phillips
