United States Drug Enforcement Administration

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison announced today that 288 arrests have been made by local and federal law enforcement officers in Operation LeGend.

Among those arrested since the launch of the operation, 61 are federal defendants. Among the remaining 227 arrests, 24 were homicide cases and 72 were fugitives with either state or federal warrants for their arrest. The remaining 131 non-fugitive arrests were referred for prosecution in state court.

In addition to the arrests, agents and officers have seized 89 firearms during Operation LeGend.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is not able to track cases that are referred for prosecution in state court. In addition to the arrests of federal defendants charged in other districts, or who were arrested for violating their supervised release, the following 38 defendants have been charged in federal court in the Western District of Missouri:

• Edward Latimore, felon in possession of a firearm;
• G’aunte Butler, drug user in possession of a firearm;
• Chase Lewis, drug user in possession of a firearm;
• Romeny Aubrey, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Robert Jordan, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Harun Rimson, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Anthony Meneses, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Lance Saenz, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Scott Yount, drug trafficking;
• Crystal Smith, drug trafficking;
• Aurora Page, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Crystell Smith, drug trafficking;
• Devonte  Bowman, arson;
• Jamahl Jones, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Michael Moore, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Tylor Lack, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Dominic McDaniel, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Cameron Smith, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Charles Bai, felon in possession of a firearm, drug trafficking;
• Federico Yanez-Saldivar, felon in possession of a firearm, drug trafficking; and
• Manuel Vazques, felon in possession of a firearm, drug trafficking.

Previously reported federal defendants:

• Terrell L. Releford, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Dustin M. Jordan, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Zackory Phillips, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Travis J. Pipes, heroin trafficking, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime;
• Dylan Pruett, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Chase M. Murphy, armed robbery conspiracy, armed robbery, brandishing firearms during a crime of violence. 
• Monty Ray, unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm;
• Steven Younce, felon in possession of a firearm, meth trafficking, possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime;
• Daniel Briscoe, methamphetamine trafficking, heroin trafficking;
• Leamandreal Dorsey, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Shannon Walz, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition;
• Maricela Lozano, carjacking, using a firearm during a crime of violence;
• Gary Dorch, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Patricia Nelson, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Bobby Lynn King, felon in possession of a firearm;
• Logan Tanner Laws, unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm; and
• Michael Glen Zeigers, felon in possession of a firearm.

Nelson, King, Laws, and Zeigers are co-defendants also charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, money laundering, and possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

Operation LeGend
Operation LeGend is a federal partnership with local law enforcement to address the increase in homicides and violent crime in Kansas City, Mo., in 2020. The operation honors the memory of four-year-old LeGend Taliferro, one of the youngest fatalities during a record-breaking year of homicides and shootings. Additional federal agents were assigned to the operation from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.