Norfolk, Va. – An Emporia man is set to spend 96 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute heroin and firearm trafficking activities.
Collie Rashad Sanks, 37, pleaded guilty on September 27, 2015.
Court documents say Sanks was the second highest ranking member of the Bloods street gang known as the Red Stone Rydahs, which operated in Emporia and Franklin.
Sanks and his business partner, 41-year-old Phillip Jerome Murphy, began distributing large amounts of heroin in Franklin, Smithfield and Emporia in approximately 2012.
Sanks and Murphy would travel to New York, sometimes twice per month, to buy bulk quantities of heroin and then travel back to southeastern Virginia to distribute the drug.
Both men sold heroin and also employed other people to help them distribute the drugs.
Court documents also revealed that Sanks was involved in gun trafficking for the Red Stone Rydahs.
On two occasions, he sold a total of eleven guns, including high caliber rifles, assault rifles and pump action shotguns. He also sold a ballistic vest to an undercover law enforcement officer.
Law enforcement found four different types of ammunition, an AK-47 assault rifle, and three other firearms, in addition to heroin, marijuana, narcotics packaging materials and gang paraphernalia at residences associated with Sanks.
