United States Drug Enforcement Administration

INDIANAPOLIS – Michael J. Gannon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Indianapolis, and U.S. Attorney Zachary Myers for the Southern District of Indiana announced that Jovan Stewart, 33, and Dwyatt Harris, 45, both of Indianapolis, were sentenced to 250 and 120 months, respectively, in federal prison, after both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

According to court documents, Stewart and Harris were members of a methamphetamine and heroin trafficking organization that operated in the Indianapolis area from the summer of 2019 through March 19, 2020. The organization was led by Christopher Tate, also a resident of Indianapolis, who coordinated the receipt of methamphetamine and heroin from different sources and organized the distribution of the controlled substances in Indianapolis. Tate was previously sentenced to 400 months in prison, by Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, following his conviction at a jury trial.

Stewart served as Tate’s top lieutenant, driving Tate to distribute controlled substances, delivering controlled substances to Tate’s customers at Tate’s direction, and sometimes coordinating with Tate’s sources of supply to obtain the controlled substances. Harris was a lower-level member of the conspiracy. Harris transported controlled substances from Indianapolis to Silver Lake, Indiana, for Sandra Kellogg, who served as one of Tate’s methamphetamine distributors. The investigation resulted in the indictment and conviction of thirteen defendants for their roles in the organization’s drug trafficking activity.

Other noteworthy sentences included the following:

Joining ASAC Gannon and U.S. Attorney Myers in making the announcement were Justin Campbell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office; and Randal Taylor, Chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation, Indianapolis Metropolitan Drug Task Force, and IMPD investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt. As part of the sentence, Judge Pratt ordered that Stewart and Harris each be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for five years following their release from federal prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Blackington prosecuted this case.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.