Methylone Supplier Charged Under the Kingpin Statute

In May 2017, a federal grand jury indicted 39-year-old Terrence Deon Reames on charges connected to operating a continuing criminal enterprise. Authorities charged Reames under the Kingpin Statute for importing and distributing methylone and ethylone. Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Jack Smith, announced that the man became a high profile vendor in Nashville prior to his arrest.

The indictment accused Reames of distributing drugs with five or more individuals between May 2011 and August 2014. During the investigation, authorities found that Reames had connected with an online methylone and ethylone supplier located in China. He convinced others in Nashua that the profits from this “Molly” would be substantial.

(Note for clarification: the official press release referred to both compounds as “Molly.” No mention of MDMA. Just methylone and ethylone aka βk-MDMA and βk-MDEA.)

During the period of time where Reames operated in the capacity of a drug Kingpin, according to the indictment, he obtained or sought to obtain 100 kilograms of methylone and ethylone. Whatever amount of “Molly” Reames actually obtained was distributed amongst the five or more individuals who worked alongside the defendant.

Those five (or more) distributed the substances throughout the Nashville area. He became a “substantial distributor in the Nashville area as Molly became more widely available,” the indictment explained. Reames used encrypted communication methods to contact his supplier—the details of which were included in the indictment. His shipping and payment methods were also made public in the document.

He gave his supplier names to use on the methylone and ethylone packages. One of the names was that of Reames’ dead relative. His supplier shipped packages to these names at addresses throughout Nashville and Riverdale, Georgia, where Reames once lived. USPS, after the packages arrived in the US, handed package delivery, leaving USPIS to investigate the case.

The recipients and other conspirators paid for the substances. Reames arranged for the payment of $300,000, in total, to the supplier’s bank account in China. Reames provided them with cash to send wire transfers from various accounts of their own. Reames made a significant profit from $300,000. The government ordered a forfeiture of $1 million—the value of the proceeds and items used to operate the continuing criminal enterprise.

Reames, according to the indictment, acquired drugs, cash, firearms, and jewelry through the drug operation. He claimed the proceeds, in total, were only valued at $150,000. With several felonies on his record, Reames could not have legally owned firearms. He used them to further the criminal enterprise by protecting drugs, money, and other items worth protecting.

Nashville Police officers in arrested Reames in Nashville. He faces a maximum of life in prison for the CCE statute charge.