Multi-state heroin and meth trafficking conspiracy In Virginia, Tennessee broken up

A large-scale heroin and methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy that brought drugs from Michigan into Southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee for redistribution has been broken up, and seven individuals have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Abingdon.

The four-count indictment was unsealed today following multiple arrests.

Charged in the conspiracy were:

• Robert Earl Warr, 32, of Detroit, Mich.
• David Edward Farmer, 56, of Strawberry Plains, Tenn.
• John Joel Foster, 50, of Lee County, Va.
• Robert Lee Jenkins, 25, of Detroit, Mich.
• Ray Anthony McSwain, 28, of Detroit, Mich.
• Garrett Lee Teffeteller, 42, of Townsend, Tenn.
• Darin Ken Thomas, 38, of Kodak, Tenn.

Warr, Jenkins, Farmer, Foster and Teffeteller are charged with conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.

Warr, Jenkins, McSwain, Farmer and Thomas are charged with one count of conspiring to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin.

Farmer and Thomas are each charged with one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, the co-conspirators operated in Southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee from approximately September 2021 through September of 2022.

During that time, Warr, Jenkins and McSwain traveled from Michigan to Tennessee to secure large quantities of heroin and crystal methamphetamine for local suppliers to sell throughout Southwest Virginia and Eastern Tennessee.

U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh and ATF Washington Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Christopher Amon announced the arrests today.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Wise County Sheriff’s Office, the Southwest Virginia Drug Task Force, the Knoxville, Tennessee Police Department, the Knox County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office, the Sevier County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office and the Lee County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lena L. Busscher is prosecuting the case for the U.S.