By John Howell
At least six suspects named among those arrested last week as part of “Operation Bite Back” have been indicted by a federal grand jury, according to the records of the U.S. District Court of North Mississippi.
Operation Bite Back is a spinoff from the Jessica Chambers murder investigation that began with her heinous murder last December. The concentration of federal and state investigative resources directed at solving her murder combined with investigations by the Batesville Police Department and the Panola County Sheriff’s Department into local drug and gang activity led to the December 15 announcement of 17 arrests.
The investigation also led to indictments for counterfeiting against three suspects.
George Lee Todd Jr., 23, also known as “Toolie,” D’Lirian Casey, 18, also known as “Gan Gan” and Deon Deshea Smith, 20, are named in a two-count indictment filed December 10. Count One alleges that Smith and Casey tried to pass counterfeit $100 bills at Kangaroo Express in Senatobia on July 29. Count Two alleges that Casey and Todd tried to pass bogus $100 bills at Senatobia’s Waffle House that same day.
According to court records, Todd has retained attorney Paul A. Chiniche to represent him, replacing the Federal Public Defender originally appointed.
U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander has set January 25 as the trial date for the three men, according to a scheduling order filed December 17.
The federal grand jury indicted Gregory Benard Andrews, 22, of Batesville, also known as “Lil G,” for two counts — on April 30 and May 1, 2015 — of distributing powder cocaine.
Assistant Federal Public Defender George L. Lucas has been appointed to represent Andrews, court records state.
Lyndon Mosely Jr., 26, of Courtland, faces a trial date of February 16 at Aberdeen for one count of distribution of crack cocaine in March, 2015. Judge Sharion Aycock will preside. Assistant Federal Public Defender M. Scott Davis has been appointed to represent Mosely.
An indictment against Edward Deywayne House, 29, of Batesville, also known as “Lil E,” alleges that in February and March he also distributed crack cocaine.
Court records also state that in 2010, House, along with two other men, was also indicted for his part in a conspiracy to bring large quantities of cocaine from Texas to north Mississippi for sale.
All of the recent indictments were filed December 10 and contain forfeiture provisions that could allow the government to take any property used to commit or facilitate the violations.
“I don’t think it’s anything that will lead us to Jessica’s murderer,” District Attorney John Champion told The Panolian last week. Champion said that the arrests came from information gleaned as part of the ongoing investigation into Chambers’ murder where the perpetrator doused her and her car with an accelerant before lighting them afire on December 6, 2014.
Firefighters responding to what they thought was a car fire found Chambers barely alive at the scene. She died a short time later.