SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One of the defendants in a massive murder and drug smuggling case involving the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang pleaded guilty Monday in Sacramento federal court, a signal that prosecutors may have gained a potential source of information as they pursue the case.
Samuel Keeton, 41, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to a count of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin.
Keeton had been held without bail at the Sacramento County Main Jail since June 2019 facing charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin for Aryan Brotherhood leaders in prison while he was out on parole.
He is the first defendant to enter a guilty plea in a case that federal officials have described as a major blow to the Aryan Brotherhood, a violent white supremacist prison gang that officials say orchestrated murders for hire from their prison cells, oversaw the distribution of narcotics outside prison walls and the smuggling of cell phones to inmates in California state prisons.
Mueller said in court that Keeton's plea agreement includes a five-page "factual basis" for the plea that spells out details of the agreement, but that had not yet been filed Monday morning.
Officials have described the defendants as so dangerous that prosecutors originally sought an order to allow the case to proceed by video conferencing rather than have them attend court sessions. The COVID-19 pandemic has since made that moot, with hearings now taking place through Zoom video.
Authorities originally charged 16 people, tying the prison gang to at least five inmate murders and orders to kill four more people, and court filings say investigators "uncovered and disrupted multiple murder plots targeting AB member, AB associates and other individuals who — according to Aryan Brotherhood members — had violated the gang's expectations or code of conduct."
Six of the defendants already are serving life terms in prison.
"Keeton played a critical role in picking up the drugs in Southern California, driving them to Sacramento for distribution, and then driving the drug proceeds back down to Southern California for allocation among the conspiracy's participants," prosecutors wrote in court filings. "Keeton also participated in a plot to smuggle contraband into Folsom state prison using a lawyer and a paralegal during a fictitious client meeting."
The case stemmed from years of investigation of Aryan Brotherhood members in prisons from Imperial County to Lassen County and included U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration wiretaps of 1,800 phone calls among inmates using illegal cell phones inside prison cells.
Keeton was considered an Aryan Brotherhood associate who lived in Menifee in Southern California, and had previously petitioned the court to release him from the jail because he has asthma and was concerned about contracting coronavirus while in custody.
That request was denied.
Keeton faced between 10 years and life in prison with the original charges, and prosecutors say his criminal history included drug and burglary charges as well as attempted automobile theft.
The guilty plea comes a week after authorities announced they had made 102 arrests in the Fresno area of suspected Aryan Brotherhood members and associates of the Fresneck gang.
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the Aryan Brotherhood the nation's oldest and largest white supremacist prison gang. It was formed in 1964 at San Quentin State Prison and has nearly 20,000 members.
