Rare 'kingpin' charges: Minnesota man worked with Mexican cartels to fuel historic loads of meth, fentanyl back up north

Caught with meth for sale in a Vadnais Heights motel parking lot, Clinton James Ward fled to Jalisco, Mexico, five years ago. Today, he's back in his home state accused of forging a historic Minnesota drug empire with two of Mexico's deadliest and dominant drug cartels.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger on Tuesday announced an indictment charging Ward and 14 others in a drug trafficking conspiracy case that has since led to the seizure of more than 1,600 pounds of methamphetamine, four kilograms of cocaine, two kilograms of fentanyl plus 30,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills.

Luger said Ward established ties to traffickers affiliated with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels to launch "one of the largest and most prolific drug organizations that has operated in Minnesota."

Agents also seized 45 firearms and more than $2.5 million in the investigation, dubbed "Operation Ice Bear," which has included more than 50 total arrests. U.S. and Mexican authorities, after years of investigation, arrested Ward after cornering him at his gated residence in Jalisco earlier this year. Mexico expelled him from the country and federal agents formally took him into custody in San Diego.

In a rare move for federal prosecutors in Minnesota, Ward is being charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise — often called the "kingpin" statute — which has a mandatory 20-year minimum prison sentence if convicted of a conspiracy extending from January 2019 to March 2024.

"We rarely have a case that warrants the use of the kingpin statute," Luger said. "But we do here."

A message was left seeking comment from Ward's attorney.

Prosecutors allege that Ward used connections in Minnesota and within the Mexican cartels to run a "Mexican store-front operation," in which customers would order up drugs that Ward and others would arrange to distribute to them using a network in Minnesota.

Luger said the drug conspiracy funneled drugs from Mexico across the border via shipping containers, private vehicles and semi trailers before they were broken down into smaller quantities to be shipped to Minnesota.

Ward, 45, is the only defendant being charged under the so-called "kingpin" statute. He is also charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine.

All 15 defendants are being charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine — which carries a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence upon conviction — in addition to other drug charges. Also charged are: Shawnette Lynn Andreasen, 46; Jonathon Beau Bailey, 33; Vin Chanry, 37; Perry John Coyle, 65; James Joseph Graczyk, 51; Benjamin DeWayne Johnson, 40; Joseph Allen Pappenfus, 41; Breezie Lynn Pena, 46; Aaron Michael Teadt, 47; Jimmy Thithavong, 38; Peter Charles Watkins, 45; and Nicole Marie Williams, 41.

Each defendant is described in court documents as having helped distribute methamphetamine — often graded as "100% pure" — in various locations across the Twin Cities metro area. As of a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Luger said 13 of the 15 people indicted were in custody with the other two expected to be arrested "shortly."

Steven Bell, special agent in charge of the DEA's Omaha division, said Tuesday that agents took down the "remnants" of Ward's drug-trafficking organization with the final arrests of those charged in his indictment.

Bell said the amount of meth seized during the investigation equated to 5.8 million "dosage units" – or nearly enough for every person in Minnesota. The combined total of fentanyl taken in by agents meanwhile represented what the DEA considers to be 217,000 lethal doses of the powerful opioid.

To put those numbers into further perspective, law enforcement reported seizing about 900 pounds of methamphetamine and 417,000 fentanyl pills in all of 2022.

"We have effectively disrupted the transportation and distribution of illegal drugs into our communities," said Leah Greeves, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Minneapolis, which worked the investigation with the DEA as well as state, county and local law enforcement agencies.

Bell added that the $2.5 million in alleged drug proceeds seized in the investigation did "not accurately represent the total amount of drugs that his organization was able to distribute over the last several years."

In all, investigators estimate that "tens of millions of dollars in drugs were trafficked" by the organization, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Ward was selling methamphetamine from his hotel room as of 2019 before being arrested in a Vadnais Heights parking lot and found to be possessing more than eight pounds of the drug. He fled to Jalisco, Mexico, weeks later and eventually met up with "various Mexican and American drug traffickers who all had ties" to the Sinaloa Cartel in Culiacan, Mexico, and Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Jalisco.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Hollenhorst, in a court memo arguing that Ward and seven others remain detained in the case, wrote that investigators believe that on top of the drugs reported seized by federal agents, investigators believe "tons of additional methamphetamine and other controlled substances have been transported into the State of Minnesota, which has generated tens of millions of additional dollars in drug proceeds."

Among others arrested but not charged in the same indictment as Ward is Jonathan Henry Valencour, arrested July 16 and found with more than 180 pounds of methamphetamine and a loaded firearm equipped with a silencer.

"Prior indictments had charged many others linked to Ward's [drug trafficking organization]; but, these recent charges have now provided a death blow to most of the remaining vestiges of the Ward [drug trafficking organization]," Hollenhorst wrote.