KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Four members of Kansas City street gang 246 were convicted in federal court on several drug-trafficking charges Thursday.
A jury found 35-year-old Ladele Smith, 33-year-old David Duncan IV, 31-year-old Roy Franklin, Jr. and 42-year-old Gary Toombs guilty of conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana from January 2011 to October 2019.
Smith, Duncan and Franklin were convicted on multiple firearm charges, including one involving a drive-by shooting. Toombs was convicted of firearm charges as well.
Smith and Duncan are local rap artists who broadcast their music on social media platforms with references to 246: a group made up of residents from 24th, 43rd and 68th streets. The rappers are known for flaunting firearms and cash, along with expensive 246 watches and apparel, to their audience.
Started in 2017, the gang was led by Smith. Members met in a house on the 4400 block of Kensington — just 1,000 feet from the George Washington Carver Dual Language School for elementary students. There, meetings were held and drugs were regularly trafficked. No one took up permanent residence in the meeting space.
Officers obtained a search warrant of the home in October 2019 and found heroin, two assault rifles, a stolen vehicle involved in a drive-by shooting and several other firearms.
The police then searched Smith's home and found codeine, $31,601 in cash and over $40,000 worth of jewelry. That same day, Duncan's residence was searched, and he was arrested after finding three firearms, several magazines of ammunition, $7,100 in cash and four bags of oxycodone pills.
In addition to his other charges, Smith was found guilty of one count of distributing marijuana, one count of distributing marijuana near a school and four counts of distributing heroin near a school.
Franklin was found guilty of two counts of distributing marijuana and one count of distributing marijuana near a school.
Duncan was found guilty of possessing oxycodone with the intent to distribute, one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug crime and five counts of money laundering.
Toombs was found guilty of maintaining a residence for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing and using controlled substances.
According to federal law, each of the four defendants must serve a minimum of 10 years in federal prison without parole, with a maximum sentence of life without parole.
Eleven others have pleaded guilty and been sentenced in this case.
The following co-defendants have already been sentenced in Missouri: 31-year-old Sirrico Franklin of Raytown, 36-year-old Terrance Garner of Kansas City, 32-year-old Joshua Marchbanks of Kansas City, 30-year-old Carleeon Lockett of Kansas City, 26-year-old Kenneth Scott of Kansas City, 34-year-old Cordell Edwards of Kansas City, 36-year-old Michael Sims of Kansas City, 38-year-old Marco Maddox of Kansas City, 36-year-old Cornelius Phelps of Lee's Summit and 67-year-old Herman Bell of Kansas City.
Thirty-five-year-old Martin Garner of St. Louis has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
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