Opinion ID: 6351771
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Drug-Distribution Operation

Text: Lewis reported to a man named Allan Bates. In December 2014, Bates introduced Lewis to Thomas “TJ” Boyle. Lewis drove a black Mercedes SUV to the meeting and gave Bates No. 21-1614 3 $125,000 in cash. Unbeknownst to Bates and Lewis, Boyle was actually an FBI informant. Boyle had agreed to provide the FBI with evidence of Bates’s drug operation in exchange for working off a probation revocation. The FBI considered Boyle very reliable because his information previously led to the seizure of $400,000 from Bates’s right-hand man, Larry Norton. Boyle also passed on information about a barn near Butler, Indiana, where the drug-trafficking operation stored cash and drugs in a hidden compartment. On January 27, 2015, the FBI served search warrants in Indiana, Ohio, and Texas in connection with its investigation of Bates’s operation. Bates fled, and Lewis helped him escape to Mexico. On February 1, 2015, Bates told Lewis that he and an associate, Chris Cook, needed to retrieve over $1 million and 20 kilograms of cocaine from the Butler barn. Lewis and Cook did as Bates instructed, and Lewis told Bates that there were only 19 kilograms, not the expected 20. At Bates’s direction, Cook kept $60,000 in cash, and Lewis transferred the remaining cash and drugs to his car. Meanwhile, the FBI obtained search warrants to review text messages on a phone that Bates was using in Mexico. On January 29, Bates texted Lewis and asked him to check on Boyle. Bates also told Boyle that “Nap” in Indianapolis (meaning Lewis) could help Boyle get cash and a rental car so he could flee to Texas. Crucially, Bates gave Boyle Nap’s cell phone number.