United States Drug Enforcement Administration

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Alfred A. Cooke, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson for the Northern District of Indiana announced that Eddie M. Knox, 56, Fort Wayne, Indiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Holly A. Brady on his plea of guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl.

Knox was sentenced to 300 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, between May 6, 2019, and Aug. 26, 2020, Knox was involved in a conspiracy with his co-defendants to distribute significant amounts of controlled substances. During the conspiracy, Knox personally distributed approximately 393 grams of methamphetamine and 98 grams of fentanyl in five controlled buys with law enforcement. Knox also provided a firearm to a felon during one of the controlled buys. In addition, Knox maintained a residence where controlled substances were sold and stored during the conspiracy, and where additional narcotics and two firearms were recovered.   

Knox was the final defendant to be sentenced in this case. The other five co-defendants who were previously sentenced included:

• Fredrick Morgan II, 43, of Fort Wayne, who received 360 months in prison,
• Larry Alan, 41, of Fort Wayne, who received 295 months in prison,
• Frederick Morgan, 65, of Fort Wayne, who received 90 months in prison,
• James Russell, Jr., 56, of Fort Wayne, who received 84 months in prison, and
• Sarah Waltz,  41, of Fort Wayne, who received 37 months in prison.

This case was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the DEA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, with the assistance of multiple local law enforcement agencies, including the Indiana State Police, Allen County Sheriff’s Department, Allen County Drug Task Force, Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Huntington Police Department, Auburn Police Department, and the Fort Wayne Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stacey R. Speith and Brent A. Ecenbarger.

This case was being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.