KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WJMN/WBUP) — A Michigan man was sentenced to prison for his participation in a drug-smuggling ring that ran from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula, according to federal prosecutors.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for U.S. District Attorney Mark Totten’s office said Charles Lester Knuckles Jr. was sentenced to 11 years in prison for leading a drug trafficking operation that traversed the state for at least two months, ending in January of 2023.
“Mr. Knuckles was running a drug pipeline trafficking methamphetamine from the Detroit area to northern Michigan,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “We will continue to collaborate with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners in the U.P. and across the District to hold traffickers accountable and keep illegal drugs off of our streets.”
The conviction of the 31-year-old from a city in metro Detroit and four others began with the Upper Peninsula Substances Enforcement Team (UPSET) introducing U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers to a Hancock woman who had previously dealt methamphetamine.