FirstAlerts

Three Men Indicted in Federal Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Conspiracy

A federal grand jury in Michigan has charged three men in connection with an alleged drug trafficking and money laundering operation involving fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 20, 2026, 9:22 a.m. ET
A federal grand jury in the Western District of Michigan has returned an indictment charging three men in connection with drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies, according to an August 11, 2026 announcement in official court records. The defendants are 54-year-old Lakento Brian Smith of Houston, Texas, 58-year-old Javon Drevelle Brewer of Muskegon Heights, Michigan, and 40-year-old Fletcher Lee Salazar of Muskegon Heights, Michigan. The case remains open and developing, and the matter is currently undecided at the charging stage. The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. According to official records from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Smith, Brewer, and Salazar are all with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, including 400 grams or more of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine. Smith and Brewer are also with money laundering conspiracy, while Brewer and Salazar face additional charges of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and heroin. If convicted, Smith faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and up to life in prison, while Brewer and Salazar face mandatory minimum penalties of 10 years and up to life in prison. U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey stated that the indictment highlights the office's commitment to protecting communities from deadly narcotics and illicit profits. DEA Detroit Division Special Agent in Charge Joseph O. Dixon noted that law enforcement is targeting both the drugs and the money behind them. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan McGraw and investigated by the DEA, FBI, IRS-CI, USPIS, MSP, GRPD, and KCSO as part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative.

Was this report accurate and useful?

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 120 Aug 2026, 13:22

    First published.

  2. Version 120 Aug 2026, 13:22current

    First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble β€” all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources β€” accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements β€” and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld β€” a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them β€” and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.