April 17, 2025 – Larry S. Stoker and Calvin L. Trahan have been charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute over five kilograms of cocaine after their arrest yesterday outside of a Nashville hotel, announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee.
“Our law enforcement partners work diligently every day to stop loads of illegal drugs from reaching our citizens,” said Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire. “The arrests of the defendants and the seizure of fifty kilos of cocaine as well as over a quarter of a million dollars in cash the latest result in our consistent efforts to stop the flow of illegal drugs into our communities.”
According to court documents, during a months’ long drug investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), agents identified individuals suspected of trafficking in large quantities of drugs in the Nashville area and elsewhere. Two of those individuals were identified as Deshawn Jones (a/k/a Deshaune Jones) and Larry Stoker, both convicted felons. Jones had been previously convicted in 2012 in federal court in Nashville as part of a racketeering conspiracy, and Stoker had been previously convicted of a conspiracy to distribute cocaine in federal court in Texas in 2010 and is currently on federal supervised release.
On April 15, 2025, as part of that ongoing investigation, agents determined that Jones had traveled to Nashville International Airport and picked up Stoker, who had arrived on a flight that evening. Jones then delivered Stoker to a hotel on 29th Avenue North in Nashville. That evening, agents surveilled the hotel and observed Calvin Trahan arrive in a vehicle with a Texas registration which he parked in the hotel parking lot. Trahan was previously convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in federal court in Illinois in 2006.
On the morning of April 16, 2025, agents observed Stoker go to the vehicle that Trahan had previously driven to the hotel. Agents observed Trahan using a key fob from still inside the hotel. After Trahan used the key fob, Stoker then began unloading heavy bags from the vehicle. Once he had unloaded several bags from Trahan’s vehicle he returned to his hotel room with the bags. Later that morning, Jones drove to the same Nashville hotel from his apartment on Charlotte Avenue. When Jones arrived at the hotel, he met Stoker outside and the pair eventually went into the hotel together. When Jones entered the hotel, he was carrying a blue suitcase. Jones and Stoker then went to Stoker’s hotel room.
A short time later, Jones and Stoker emerged from Stoker’s hotel room carrying the bags Stoker had unloaded from Trahan’s car as well as the blue suitcase. Once Jones and Stoker exited hotel and were observed carrying the bags, agents approached and identified themselves as law enforcement officers. Stoker and Jones dropped the bags and fled on foot. Stoker was apprehended. Jones was shot by a DEA agent during this operation.
In the blue suitcase and the bags abandoned by Jones and Stoker, agents found approximately fifty rectangular packages weighing approximately one kilogram each. Field tests of the packages revealed the presence of cocaine. Agents also recovered multiple bundles of banded cash which totaled over $250,000. Trahan, who had remained in the hotel, was then taken into custody inside the hotel.
Based on the agents’ investigation, training, and experience, it appeared that Jones and Stoker had exchanged cash for drugs and swapped the contents of the bags and the suitcase as part of the transaction.
If convicted, Stoker and Trahan face a mandatory minimum of ten years in federal prison and a maximum of life imprisonment with a maximum fine of $10 million.
The shooting incident is being reviewed by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration per standard protocols. “The Metro Nashville Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration will conduct their own separate reviews of the agent-involved shooting,” added McGuire. “Once those reviews are concluded, I have asked them to share their findings with our office for appropriate action.”
This case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Wehby is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Tennessee
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