Drug Kingpin Sentenced to Life in Federal Prison
The leader of a drug trafficking ring that shipped cocaine and heroin from Los Angeles to cities as far away as Atlanta was sentenced Friday to life in federal prison.
Michel “Bill” Withers, 40, of Chino Hills was convicted in September of drug trafficking, conspiracy and operating a continuing criminal enterprise.
Withers’ ring used couriers to transport drug shipments by car and plane to a number of cities, including St. Louis, Atlanta, Memphis, Tenn., Louisville, Ky., Milwaukee and Richmond, Va.
He and other members of the ring were arrested in Operation Desert Stop, a multi-agency law enforcement crackdown on Mexican drug suppliers as well as dealers in Los Angeles and other cities.
Also sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real were two of Withers’ associates, James Edward Coleman, 59, of Los Angeles, who received 137 months in prison, and Melvin Hudspeth, 23, of Hesperia, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Latrella Stevenson, 33, of Los Angeles, who is the mother of Withers’ child, was placed on probation by Real, who found that she was drawn into the crime by Withers. Prosecutors had requested that she be imprisoned for more than five years.
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