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Date: Jan. 22, 2026
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
ATLANTA - Antonio DaShawn Daniels, a/k/a “Freckleface Shawn,” a/k/a “Pecas,” who was convicted at trial in June of 2025, has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for trafficking heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine, and for possessing 40 firearms in his Atlanta stash house.
“Supplied by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Daniels’s drug trafficking organization devastated hundred, if not thousands, of lives through its large-scale distribution of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Daniels was one of the largest heroin and fentanyl distributors to ever operate in Georgia, and his conviction and sentencing are the direct result of the tireless efforts of skilled prosecutors, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and our local law enforcement partners.”
“This investigation tore apart a drug trafficking network responsible for dealing drugs in communities across the region,” said FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown. “This operation shows what can be accomplished when there is collaboration between federal and local law enforcement agencies.”
“This drug trafficking organization is part of a ruthless criminal network that profits from drugs, guns, and bloodshed,” said Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division.
According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: Daniels was the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization that operated from at least August of 2018 until Daniels’s arrest on July 27, 2020. The investigation began in 2019, when federal agents discovered a drug ledger that showed that Daniels had received over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine in an 18-month span, and that Daniels paid over $31 million for it. Agents secured several court-approved wiretaps on Daniels’s phones, enabling them to identify key members of the Daniels organization and discern its large-scale reach.
The investigation culminated in a July 27, 2020, takedown that resulted in record-setting drug seizures. Specifically, agents seized approximately 28 kilograms of heroin (17 of which were mixed with fentanyl), six kilograms of cocaine, eight kilograms of marijuana, and more than $2.1 million in cash inside the apartment in Atlanta where Daniels was arrested. Forty firearms were stashed throughout the apartment, along with kilo-presses, scales, strainers with white powder residue, and a money counter.
Agents also searched a residence in Atlanta that served as another stash location for the organization. Inside that home, agents seized over 142 kilograms of heroin, nearly all of which was mixed with fentanyl. At the time of the takedown, this was the largest seizure of heroin in Georgia’s history.
Several members of Daniels’s organization have already been sentenced to federal prison. They are as follows:
Darryl McCrary, Jr. was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment on August 27, 2025. After a trial by jury, McCrary was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.
William Daniels was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment on June 6, 2024. After pleading guilty, Daniels was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Quinton Oliver was sentenced to ten years and one month of imprisonment on December 4, 2023. After pleading guilty, Oliver was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
Michael Peeker was sentenced to a year and a half of imprisonment on October 24, 2023. After pleading guilty, Peeker was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Lorene Reeves was sentenced to four years and nine months of imprisonment on March 16, 2023. After pleading guilty, Reeves was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
Niteria Patterson was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment on October 4, 2022. After pleading guilty, Patterson was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. sentenced Antonio DaShawn Daniels, a/k/a “Freckleface Shawn,” a/k/a “Pecas” of Atlanta, Georgia, to 40 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. On June 13, 2025, a jury convicted Daniels of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine; possession with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with valuable assistance provided by the Doraville Police Department and the DeKalb County Police Department.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric White, Sandy Strippoli, and Laurel Milam, as well as former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas Hartigan and Alison Prout.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
These prosecutions are also part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Atlanta Wilhelm HSTF comprises agents and officers from ATF, CGIS, DEA, FBI, ICE-HSI, IRS-CI, DOL-OIG, DSS, USMS, USPIS, and USSS, as well as numerous state and local agencies, with the prosecution being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.