An Erie gang member has been convicted as the region's "preeminent" fentanyl dealer

Javar Beason Jr., 27, indicted as the third member of the violent 4-Nation street gang, also distributed enough fentanyl pills “to kill a quarter of the people of Erie County,” federal prosecutors say.

The prosecution of the 58-defendant 4-Nation case has been fast-tracked in federal court in Erie since the May 2023 indictment
The most recently convicted defendant is 27-year-old Javar Beason Jr., who ranked third in the gang hierarchy but had no equal as a drug dealer, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Beason is sentenced to 18 1/2 years in federal prison because the judge says the amount of drugs involved is “staggering”

Javar Beason Jr. was indicted as the third-highest ranking member of 4-Nation, but gained greater infamy for the amount of fentanyl and other illegal drugs he sold in connection with the violent Erie street gang.

As an Erie fentanyl dealer, 27-year-old Beason, known as Javi Rodriguez or J-Roc, “was in the lead,” a prosecutor said Monday at Beason’s sentencing in the 4-Nation case from the US District Court in Erie.

The FBI and police attributed 158,695 fentanyl pills to Beason, as well as 82.4 pounds of methamphetamine and several ounces of cocaine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The drugs’ resale value, the bureau said, was $3 million.

The potential effect on the community was also costly.

The number of fentanyl pills seized by Beason investigators in the 4-Nation case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers told the court, was “enough to kill a quarter of the people of Erie County.”

Beason, Sellers said, “was the preeminent distributor of fentanyl in the region.”

Beason’s drug dealing and involvement with 4-Nation led U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter to sentence him to 18 1/2 years in federal prison — the longest of the 14 sentences in the 4-Nation case, the largest criminal case in Erie. .

Beason has to give up his $26,000 braces

Baxter sentenced Beason immediately after he pleaded guilty to four felonies. They are engaging in an illegal enterprise in violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act known as RICO; conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine; money laundering, for using $26,000 in drug proceeds to buy a diamond-encrusted dental grill in Texas; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Beason faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and an overall sentence ranging from 21 years and 10 months to 27 years and three months under federal sentencing guidelines.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the defense agreed to the 18 1/2-year sentence as part of the plea deal. Beason pleaded no contest to any of the charges, including the amount of drugs he was accused of trafficking.

Baxter also sentenced Beason to five years of supervised release, and he must forfeit the $26,000 dental braces he purchased in 2022. If the braces cannot be removed from his teeth, Beason will have to pay $26,000 of dollars. US Attorney’s Office.

Beason is the most senior 4-Nation member convicted to date

Beason is the most senior 4-Nation member to be sentenced since he and the other defendants were indicted in May 2023. Beason is among 31 defendants who have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty.

The first 22 defendants are accused of engaging in drug trafficking and other illegal activities as members of 4-Nation. The other 36 are accused of being affiliated with 4-Nation and drug trafficking or committing other crimes such as weapons offences. Investigators used wiretapping and cooperating witnesses to secure the charges.

The Erie resident accused of running 4-Nation, Davante Q. Jones, 31, known as Smoov, is in jail pending prosecution. Although the indictment lists Beason as the third member of the gang, he had no equal as a drug dealer in Erie, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“He was Erie’s leading drug dealer,” Sellers said in a sentencing memorandum.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office makes the Erie-Mexico connection

Beason’s business on behalf of 4-Nation took him to Mexico in June 2022. Law enforcement sources reported that he “traveled to the San Carlos, Sonora area of Sinaloa Cartel territory in Mexico to meet with suspected drug suppliers drugs,” Sellers said in the memo.

Information from law enforcement sources and Beason’s visit to Mexico — the main source of illegal fentanyl flowing into the United States — “strongly suggested” that Beason “was involved in drug-related activities and networking in Mexico.” , Sellers said in the memo.

The judge said the amount of drugs seized was the largest he had seen

Beason’s court-appointed attorney, Jon Pushinsky of Pittsburgh, described Beason in court as a devoted father of three with many “good qualities.”

Beason, who has a criminal record, apologized as his mother and other relatives and friends filled three rows of the gallery.

“I was corrupted at a young age and made some mistakes,” he said.

Baxter urged Beason to use the 18 1/2 years in prison to change his ways, but she said the length of the sentence was appropriate. She said the amount of drugs connected to Beason was the largest she had seen in her nearly 30 years on the federal bench.

“It’s horrible,” Baxter said of how Beason’s fentanyl pills hurt Erie. “The charge is beyond our knowledge.”

“The amount of drugs seized here,” she said, “is staggering.”

Contact [email protected] or 814-870-1813. Follow X @ETNpalattella.

An Erie gang member has been convicted as the region’s “preeminent” fentanyl dealer

Javar Beason Jr., 27, indicted as the third member of the violent 4-Nation street gang, also distributed enough fentanyl pills “to kill a quarter of the people of Erie County,” federal prosecutors say.

Beason has to give up his $26,000 braces

Beason is the most senior 4-Nation member convicted to date

The U.S. Attorney’s Office makes the Erie-Mexico connection

The judge said the amount of drugs seized was the largest he had seen

By Matthew. Jr

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An Erie gang member has been convicted as the region’s “preeminent” fentanyl dealer

Javar Beason Jr., 27, indicted as the third member of the violent 4-Nation street gang, also distributed enough fentanyl pills “to kill a quarter of the people of Erie County,” federal prosecutors say.

Beason has to give up his $26,000 braces

Beason is the most senior 4-Nation member convicted to date

The U.S. Attorney’s Office makes the Erie-Mexico connection

The judge said the amount of drugs seized was the largest he had seen

By Matthew. Jr

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