Officials target 8 in meth ring

Federal authorities have arrested a Waynesboro man, just one peg in an alleged meth ring that reached deep into the Shenandoah Valley and as far south as Mexico.

Deputies with the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office arrested Richard Allen Layman Jr., 30, just as five other Valley residents ran into similar law enforcement nets.

Authorities charged the group, which totals eight, with drug, firearm and conspiracy charges for their activity in the Harrisonburg area, according to an unsealed federal indictment.

Craig “Jake” Jacobsen, an assistant United States attorney, will prosecute the case.

“It was born out of a multi-year investigation,” Jacobsen said Thursday.  “And one of the defendants was a resident alien from Mexico that had roots in Harrisonburg.”

The ring members, suspected of operating since 2002, were charged by a federal grand jury Sept. 15. The list of suspects include: Sergio Mujica, 41, and Ernesto Munoz Salazar, 34, both of Mexico; James Edward Shifflett, 27, of Staunton; and Layman. Four Stuarts Draft suspects include Joshua Evans Johnson, 31, Jason Aaron Springle, 32, Kelly Robertson Hoover, 31, and Rachel Starr Quesenberry, 28.

In addition to other charges, each faces one count of conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Each faces possible life in prison.

Johnson, also known as “Wild Man” in court documents, was charged with two additional drug-related counts and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He’s scheduled to appear Oct. 22 before a jury in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.

Authorities also charged Mujica with one count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a sentence range of 20 years to life in prison.

A ninth suspect, Jessie C. Propst, 37, of Blue Grass, faces one felony count of perjury, a crime punishable by five years in prison if convicted. Propst lied to a federal grand jury when questioned about his affiliation with certain individuals, according to the indictment.

Jacobsen in August prosecuted Douglas and Lisa Rankin, a Verona couple, for meth dealing.