A large-scale, “bi-coastal” drug trafficking operation has ended with the arrest of six men, said Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn during a press conference Wednesday.
The Byrne Drug Trafficking Organization, allegedly overseen by Matthew James Byrne, 43, of Broomall, Delaware County, made $5 million over the past six months bringing cocaine and methamphetamine from Los Angeles to Bucks County, where it was packaged and sold at the “street level,” Schorn said.
Stashing millions of dollars’ worth of drugs in everything from Bluetooth speakers and wooden boxes to foam coolers, Matthew Byrne would same-day ship the drugs, often to locations in Bristol Township and Montgomery County, authorities said.
Most of the packages, allegedly containing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of coke and meth, were delivered to his brother Joseph Byrne’s home on Gable Hill Road in Bristol Township. Narcotics detectives said 12 such parcels were tracked.
Investigators said they intercepted three shipments at the U.S. Parcel Service’s Worldport facility in Louisville, Ky., where nearly $1.2 million in cocaine and methamphetamine was found inside three Bluetooth speakers, the DA said.
“One can only imagine how many lives were spared by the interception of these dangerous drugs,” Schorn said.
Citing an instance where one of the Bluetooth speakers used for transporting drugs was later sold at a yard sale, Schorn called the trafficking operation “equal parts simple and complex,” adding, “It was motivated by greed knowing no bounds.”
Matthew Byrne and his brother Joseph Byrne, 47, Khalik Kemp, 34, of Philadelphia, and Christian Garwood, 55, of Flourtown, Montgomery County, were taken to the Bucks County Correctional Facility. Matthew Byrne is being held on $5 million bail. Joseph Byrne and Kemp are each being held on $3 million bail, and Garwood is being held on $1 million.
Two other men — Ralph Brooks, 42, of Los Angeles, and Chaz Harness-Walker, 40, of Inglewood, Calif. — are also charged but are not in custody, authorities said.
“I hope the outcome of this investigation serves to warn drug dealers in our community that you will be identified, caught, and prosecuted for your crimes and we will not tolerate criminal enterprises that profit from those who suffer from addiction,” Schorn said.
The investigation is ongoing, said the district attorney.
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