Columbus Man Charged in Narcotics Conspiracy

A Columbus man has been charged in a narcotics conspiracy case, accused of forcing addicts into prostitution through violence.

Ricco Lamonte Maye, 39, of Columbus, is the head of a loose organization of individuals engaged in various types of criminal activity, including drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and mail and wire fraud, according to court documents.

Maye allegedly used threats, violence and manipulation of drug dependencies to ensure individuals continued to carry out his criminal schemes. He was originally charged by indictment in November 2020 and has remained in federal custody since.

A second superseding indictment was unsealed today, charging Maye and nine other defendants with crimes related to distributing bulk quantities of fentanyl, crack, cocaine and methamphetamine; a mail and wire fraud conspiracy involving fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance; a conspiracy to threaten potential witnesses; and an alleged conspiracy in which women were sex trafficked to earn drug money.

According to the second superseding indictment, beginning in at least 2018, Maye’s drug trafficking organization primarily distributed narcotics to addicts in street-level quantities. It is alleged he regularly purchased narcotics from supply sources both inside and outside of Ohio and used addicts to transport the drugs back to Columbus for resale.

Court documents say Maye would accept stolen goods, gift cards, Social Security numbers and other items in addition to cash as payment for the drugs. He allegedly kept all or a portion of the others’ benefits in a mail and wire fraud conspiracy involving fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, totaling over $30,000.

The indictments detail that Maye initially gave drugs to women for free and later required them to earn drug money through prostitution. He allegedly provided the means for the women to engage in prostitution, frequently obtaining hotel rooms, having the women driven to the hotels, providing cell phones, and directing Internet prostitution ads.

Maye allegedly collected the prostitution proceeds, enforced specific rules on the women, and punished the women through physical violence. He also allegedly attempted to obstruct the ongoing investigation into his sex trafficking and fraud activities by making phone calls to various co-conspirators and potential witnesses in an attempt to determine whether individuals had spoken to or otherwise cooperated with law enforcement.

Defendants charged in this case include:

• Ricco L. Maye, aka Roscoe, 39, Columbus
• Airrika N. Anthony, 33, Columbus
• Nicole L. Groves, aka Nikki, 32, Columbus
• Kevin E. Pearson, 58, Columbus
• Jasmine R. Weather, aka Jazmine, Jaz, 23, Columbus
• Jacob M. Capan, aka Jake, 28, Pickerington
• Danielle C. Ferguson, aka Dani, 31, Columbus
• Vincent N. Morrow, aka V, 39, Columbus
• Ashleigh A. Davis, aka Snowflake, 28, Chillicothe

Maye is accused of attempting to obstruct the investigation by directing co-conspirators to cause physical harm to potential witnesses against him or directly threatening such potential witnesses with physical harm. He allegedly directed some co-defendants to use his Facebook account to reach and threaten others, including mixing rat poison into fentanyl and giving it to a co-defendant he believed could be cooperating with law enforcement.