BEAUMONT, Texas – A Moberly, Missouri woman pleaded guilty in federal court last week in a drug conspiracy with ties to a white supremacist prison gang operating in several states.
According to court documents, Breanna Beckley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, namely 500 or more grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine.
A co-conspirator, 46-year-old Shane Louque of Gonzales, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to the same charges on Wednesday, July 7.
A third defendant, 39-year-old Anthony Levi Cochran of Bullard, Texas, pleaded guilty Wednesday to an Oct. 2016 assault that occurred in Texas. Cochran admitted the assault part of his membership in the Aryan Circle gang.
Federal prosecutors said the Aryan Circle gang is a violent white supremacist group that originated in the Texas Department of Corrections and has since spread to federal prisons across the country, as well as outside prison walls in states including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri.
Cochran told prosecutors he was involved in planning and executing an attack on a fellow AC gang member who wanted to switch their affiliation to a different gang.
Investigators uncovered Beckley and Louque’s ties as part of Operation Noble Virtue, an investigation in the Aryan Circle and its leadership. Beckley had transported between 1.5 and 5 kilograms of methamphetamine in 2016 from Houston, Texas, to buyers in Louisiana, such as Louque and other AC members.
Cochran faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Both Beckley and Louque face life imprisonment.
