Drivers ordered fentanyl, other narcotics from their cars at window of Fort Worth house
Both sides with an interest in the illicit commerce underway at a house on Ramey Avenue in east Fort Worth conducted surveillance there.
Inside, a narcotics salesman in his late 30s had four large-screen televisions on which he could monitor his domain.
Willie Bryant wore necklaces and, on every finger, gold rings.
Outside, law enforcement officers used a city of Fort Worth camera that, from a pole on the street, watched Bryant’s driveway and a window.
After a person anonymously described to police a narcotics distribution operation at the house, police began in May to view recordings as the camera panned and zoomed.
For buyers, the arrangement was as convenient as picking up a hamburger and fries at a fast food restaurant drive-through.
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Cars pulled into the driveway, and people ordered and received their narcotics at a window. The deals required neither the driver to get out of the car nor Bryant to leave the house.
The window was typically available for sales between noon and 10 p.m.
At the direction of Fort Worth Police Department narcotic section officers who are assigned to a Homeland Security Investigations task force, a confidential source twice purchased methamphetamine and fentanyl from Bryant.
The law enforcement authority account of the case is contained in a criminal complaint in which Bryant was charged in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth with conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
After the purchases in late May, law enforcement authorities obtained a search warrant for the house.
A Fort Worth police SWAT team found Bryant sitting on a couch in the living room.
By the driveway window, police said they found about 24 grams of methamphetamine, 15 grams of black tar heroin, 51 fentanyl pills, 5 grams of cocaine and 1.65 ounces of marijuana.
A search of a bathroom revealed a cavity that held other instruments of crime.
Behind a mirror, in a large cutout in the wall, were 10 firearms: seven pistols, an AR 15, an AR 15 pistol and a shotgun, according to the criminal complaint.
Also in the cutout were drivers licenses and identification, bank and Social Security cards issued to 10 different people, a doctor’s prescription pad, two bricks of fentanyl, a brick of heroin, a clear plastic Tupperware container holding methamphetamine, two plastic containers of ecstasy pills, two plastic containers of black tar heroin and a plastic container of fentanyl powder.
In an interview with the police, Bryant said he sold only marijuana and cigarettes. Investigators asked Bryant about the bricks of narcotics that were inside the wall. He said his fingerprints might be on them.
Bryant in October pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman on Friday sentenced him to 11 years and three months in prison.
