A downstate man is sentenced to 132 months in federal prison for leading a drug trafficking conspiracy in Mackinac and Houghton Counties. On Wednesday U.S. attorney for the western district of Michigan, Mark Totten announced Charles Lester Knuckles Jr, 31 years old of Roseville, was sentenced in federal court for leading a conspiracy, trafficking over 500 grams of methamphetamine from Detroit to Mackinac and Houghton counties. Totten stated that Knuckles ran a drug pipeline of meth from the Detroit area to parts of the parts of the Upper Peninsula.
Local law enforcement team UPSET and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency began investigating Knuckles in December 2022 after connecting Samantha Short of Hancock with a confidential informant. Short procured the sale of four ounces of methamphetamine from Knuckles. Knuckles arranged for Lyric Stevenson of Harper Woods, and David Chatman of Inkster to deliver the drugs to Houghton County. A second shipment of eight ounces of methamphetamine was delivered by Chatman a third in December 2022, and a third shipment was delivered in January 2023. Knuckles was indicted, alongside other conspirators Samantha Short of Hancock, David Chatman of Inskter, Lyric Stevenson of Harper Woods, and Bernard Harris of Detroit in December 2023.
Each pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Short was sentenced to 41 months in prison, and Harris received a 46-month sentence. Chatman has entered into a pretrial diversion agreement that will defer his trial for 12 months provided he completes the program. Stevenson’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 2025. Knuckles was sentenced to serve 11 years for leading the drug trafficking conspiracy.
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