Date: August 9, 2023Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Early Willard Woodmore, III, of Haskell County, Oklahoma, was sentenced for his role as the leader of a methamphetamine trafficking organization operating in Haskell and Pittsburg Counties. Early Woodmore, III was sentenced to life imprisonment for drug conspiracy and distribution of methamphetamine and 240 months in prison for money laundering conspiracy and laundering monetary instruments. The sentences will run concurrently. The charges arose from investigations by the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the National Guard Counterdrug Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the District 18 Drug and Violent Crime Taskforce, the Haskell County Sheriff’s Office, the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Office, the McAlester Police Department, the Stigler Police Department, and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. On April 7, 2022, Early Woodmore, III and his co-defendant, Calvin Woodmore, were convicted by a federal jury after trial. From early 2018 until his arrest by law enforcement in 2020, Early Woodmore, III led a methamphetamine trafficking organization in which he arranged to have large quantities of methamphetamine shipped to addresses in Haskell County and Pittsburg County. Once these packages of methamphetamine arrived, the Woodmores’ organization would break them down into smaller quantities for distribution into communities in the Eastern District of Oklahoma. In the course of their trafficking, Early Woodmore, III acted as an enforcer, retaliating with acts of violence against individuals suspected of cooperating with law enforcement. “This is an important victory for the American public. Not only is Early Willard Woodmore, III going to jail for his crimes, but this is a decisive blow against a drug trafficking and money laundering network,” said Special Agent in Charge Christopher J. Altemus, Jr., IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), Dallas Field Office. “The special agents of CI are committed to taking the profits away from drug traffickers and putting those individuals in jail. The women and men of IRS-CI are proud to provide this financial expertise as we worked alongside our law enforcement partners to bring criminals like Mr. Woodmore to justice.” “DEA McAlester is proud to stand with our numerous law enforcement partners in Eastern Oklahoma and champion the work that led to the dismantlement of the Early Woodmore, III drug trafficking organization,” said Eduardo A. Chávez, Special Agent in Charge of DEA Dallas, which oversees operations in Oklahoma. “Mr. Woodmore is being held accountable for the poison that found its way into our neighborhoods by his hand. Whether it is a gram or a kilogram of methamphetamine, the DEA will never cease its efforts to rid these drugs from the streets of Oklahoma.” “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is proud to have been part of this investigation,” said Claudia Angel, Acting Inspector in Charge of the Fort Worth Division. “Postal Inspectors remain committed to identifying and pursuing those who would misuse the U.S. Mail to distribute dangerous drugs to our communities. We are thankful for the tireless efforts of our many law enforcement partners who assisted in dismantling this criminal enterprise. We are also grateful for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Oklahoma for their commitment in prosecuting these cases.” “ATF is proud to have worked together with our partners to put Mr. Woodmore in the penitentiary for the rest of his adult life,” stated ATF Dallas Field Division Special in Charge Jeffrey C. Boshek II. “Unfortunately for him, the law caught up with his armed drug trafficking ways. It should be a lesson to others in Oklahoma, crime only pays for so long.” “The District 18 District Attorney’s Office commends the tireless efforts of the agencies involved, as well as the stellar level of collaboration among those agencies,” said District 18 District Attorney Chuck Sullivan. “The Woodmore crime syndicate has plagued the communities in both Pittsburg and Haskell Counties for far too long, flooding the streets with this poison and brutally terrorizing its citizens. The sentence of life in prison for Early Woodmore, III is the only appropriate and just outcome to bring this investigation and prosecution to a close.” “The sentencing of the Early Woodmore, III to life imprisonment is a fitting conclusion to a complex, multiagency investigation,” said United States Attorney Christopher J. Wilson. “Through the exceptional efforts of many federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, Woodmore and his criminal associates were investigated, arrested, and prosecuted. This sentence sends a very clear message that distributing illegal drugs will not be tolerated.” This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency approach. The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the trial and sentencing hearing in Muskogee. Both Calvin Woodmore and Early Willard Woodmore, III will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve non-paroleable sentences of incarceration. Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Conway represented the United States.
