NEXT ON THE WHITE POWER CHOPPING BLOCK: TODD MORGANS AND CHRISTA POLICARE

Luzerne County, PA again. A reputed Aryan Brotherhood leader and his – let’s just say 20-year-old housemate – are busted in a bath salts ring.

One People’s Project

WEST PITTSTON, PA – An Aryan Brotherhood (AB) leader and a 20-year-old female was arrested at their home after a raid where Federal agents say was the headquarters for an AB bath salts distribution ring.

According to a release by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Todd A. Morgans, 34, and Christa L. Policare, 20, were indicted by a federal grand jury on a count of conspiracy to manufacture, possess and distribute at least 7,000 grams of an “analogue” to a Schedule I drug. The indictments come a day after the raid on their home at 217 Liberty St. by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents. The home was also where Morgan’s AB chapter meetings were held, and the raid resulted in the seizure of approximately 2,000 grams of alpha-PVP, drug packaging materials, scales, three firearms, ammunition, approximately $40,000 in cash and white supremacist paraphernalia. The pending investigation hopes, among other things, to determine the origin of bath salts which is believed to be Asia.

At a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion ruled that the couple will remain detained pending trial. Policare, who was raised by her grandmother was seeking to be released in the custody of her mother, which the judge rejected. “‘I’m unimpressed with the request to release you to your mother. It sounds like she is 20 years too late,” Mannion said, noting Policare’s mother was not in the courtroom.

Luzerne County, PA has a history of white supremacist activity, mostly due to the Keystone State “Skinheads” (KSS) who have organized events, flyer drops and news articles regarding their criminal activity there for over a decade. Last year, longtime neo-Nazi activist and KSS founding member Steve Smith, who served 30 days in prison in 2003 for attacking a black man with two other members in Scranton, won a position as a Republican Committeman in Pittston Township, which neighbors West Pittston. In a comment attributed to Steve Smith in a citizensvoice.com news article about the West Pittston raid, he refuses to support Morgans and Policare. “(A)ctually I think the Aryan Brotherhood are scumbags, and they are no better than the Black and Hispanic drug dealers that are infesting our community,” Smith, who was also a member of Aryan Nations and the Ku Klux Klan, wrote.

If convicted, Morgans and Policare face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of property used or gained as part of the conspiracy, including the home, Morgans’ bank account, a 2005 Chevrolet Colorado pickup and $700,000 in cash.