Sons of Silence meth supplier sentenced

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHI) - Joseph H. Hogsett, United States Attorney, announced today that Gary A. Baker, 57, Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced to 360 months in prison Friday by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker following his conviction at trial for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation=s Safe Streets Task Force in Indianapolis.

Baker was the leader of a methamphetamine trafficking organization operating in Indianapolis which had extensive connections to motorcycle clubs operating in Indiana. The methamphetamine trafficking organization operated from approximately May 2010 until the arrests of most of the members of the organization on August 6, 2011.

Baker obtained his methamphetamine from an unidentified Hispanic male living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Baker’s largest methamphetamine customer was James Taylor, a member of the Sons of Silence Motorcycle Club in Indianapolis.

Taylor distributed his methamphetamine to Jackie Craft, a member of the Sons of Silence in Indianapolis, Brian Ellington, a member of the Sons of Silence in Terre Haute, Phillip Mannebach, a member of the Sons of Silence in Terre Haute, and Stephen Davis, a member of the Vigilantes Motorcycle Club in Indianapolis.

Davis, in turn, distributed his methamphetamine to several individuals including a member of the Diablos Motorcycle Club in Terre Haute. The organization distributed approximately two pounds of methamphetamine per week during its operation.

Taylor has pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine and his sentencing has not yet occurred. Craft was sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment on May 16, 2012.

Davis was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment on July 30, 2012. Pitts was sentenced to 192 months’ imprisonment on July 24, 2012. Ellington, has pled guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and has not yet been sentenced.

Mannebach will stand trial for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by threats or violence, and conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in Indianapolis on November 13, 2012.

Evidence introduced at trial established that Gary Baker involved members of his family in the methamphetamine distribution activity. One of his sons, James Baker, transported drug proceeds from Indianapolis to Grand Rapids at Gary Baker’s direction.

Another one of Gary Baker’s sons, whose name is being withheld because he was a minor child during the operation of the conspiracy, served as one of Gary Baker’s primary methamphetamine distributors in Indianapolis.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley A. Blackington, who prosecuted the case for the government, Baker was sentenced to five years of supervised release following his release from federal prison and ordered to forfeit $60,000 in seized currency and fourteen firearms. The conditions of supervised release subject him to random urinalysis and random searches of his person, vehicle, and residence by probation officers.