Jeffrey Wilkins

State police filed drug and corrupt organization charges against 17 people, including 11 from Butler County, who were indicted by a grand jury for allegedly operating a drug ring in which large amounts of heroin and cocaine were brought to Butler County from York County last year.

The charges were filed Nov. 20, a day after the indictment from the 51st Statewide Investigating Grand Jury was unsealed. The 12-person grand jury, which was seated in Allegheny County, issued the indictment after an agent with the state Attorney General Office’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigations and a vice unit trooper from the Butler barracks presented the results of their investigation.

Charges were filed against Jeffrey A. Wilkins, 41, of York, who was named as the ringleader; his son, Amire D. McLeod, 20, of Pittsburgh; his wife, Jerrica L. Wilkins, 31, of York; and his brother, Steven A. Wilkins, 46, of New Castle, Del.

Also charged were Warren Richie, 50, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jodi L. Taylor, 42, of Saxonburg; Marki M. Seezox, 34, of Butler; Andrew J. Loeffler, 38, of Butler; Kelly L. Wilson, 55, of Slippery Rock; Dawn K. Riddick, 49, of Butler; Tyrone Riddick, 62, of Butler; Amber R. Wallace, 43, of West Sunbury; Samantha A. Best, 31, of Ford City; Cassie R. Grossi, 45, of Butler; Richard Martsolf, 49, of Butler; Seph A. Schlobohm, 38, of Butler; and Dakota M. Sloan, 30, of Butler. Preliminary hearings are pending for each of the suspects.

Jeffrey A. Wilkins, Jerrica L. Wilkins, Marki M. Seezox, Dawn K. Riddick, Tyrone Riddick, Amber R. Wallace, Samantha A. Best, Cassie R. Grossi, Seph A. Schlobohm and Dakota M. Sloan were arrested Nov. 22 and are in the Butler County Prison in lieu of bail.

Jeffrey Wilkins established a network of people he trusted to deliver large amounts of controlled substances from York County to Butler County and sell the drugs in Butler County from February through December 2023, according to the affidavit used to obtain the indictment.

State police and the attorney general’s office used electronic and in-person surveillance, GPS, cellphone tower tracking, recorded prison phone calls, search warrants, 10 confidential informants and traffic stops in the investigation.

A cellphone that Jeffrey Wilkins — also known as “Prez” or “P” — used to coordinate the drug sales was passed to his son, McLeod — also known as “Mir” or “Eight” — when Wilkins was in prison so McLeod could use the network to continue organizing drug sales, according to the affidavit.

Jeffrey Wilkins, Jerrica Wilkins and McLeod traveled from York to Butler County on a regular basis to sell drugs, and Richie — also known as “L” — came to Butler from New York to sell drugs when Jeffrey Wilkins was not in the Butler area, according to the affidavit.

After Jeffrey Wilkins and Richie had a falling out, Wilkins brought in other people to stay in Butler when he was not there, and McLeod was one of the people who supervised the network, according to the affidavit.

The local network of “runners” who delivered drugs included Wallace, Wilson, Dawn Riddick, Tyrone Roddick, Loeffler, Schlobohm, Sloan, Grossi, Taylor, Seezox, Best, Martsolf and others, according to the affidavit.

After Jeffrey Wilkins was arrested in August 2023 on a parole violation, his wife Jerrica organized meetings in York between McLeod and Steven Wilkins — also known as “Stout” — where Steven Wilkins provided McLeod with drugs to take to Butler, according to the affidavit.

McLeod gave the money from the drug sales to Jerrica, who also instructed Best to send money from drug sales to her via electronic money transfers from one Walmart store to another, according to the affidavit.

When Jeffrey Wilkins and Richie were working together, Wilkins supplied heroin/fentanyl, and Richie supplied cocaine/crack cocaine. When they were not working together, Jeffrey Wilkins found a new cocaine/crack cocaine supplier and continued to sell it and the heroin/fentanyl. On at least one occasion, Jeffrey Wilkins obtained drugs from Seezox when his supply ran out, according to the affidavit.

Jeffrey Wilkins sold heroin/fentanyl in double-sealed blue bags stamped with the names “Hard Pain,” “Slide Thru,” “Mad Man,” “Land Rover” and “Gladiator,” according to the affidavit.

The affidavit includes details from 17 controlled drug buys made by confidential informants from Feb. 8 through Sept. 8, 2023, on streets, street corners, hotels and a gas station. Most of the locations are in Butler, along with one in Butler Township and one in Saxonburg, according to the affidavit.