Los Angeles man pleads guilty to Kern Valley Prison-based drug conspiracy

Date: September 3, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Justin Damonte Mitchell, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, two counts of distributing methamphetamine, and one count of distributing fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, Mitchell was recruited by his brother, co-defendant Kristopher Thomas, who is serving a gang-related murder sentence at the Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, to assist in drug transactions outside of prison. In September 2022, Mitchell agreed to and did deliver one-half pound of fentanyl to co-defendant Natasha Michelle Bailey, of Bakersfield, to smuggle into the prison for another inmate, co-defendant Derrick D. Charles. Later that month, Mitchell assisted Thomas in the shipment of packages containing approximately 48 pounds of methamphetamine intended for delivery in Oklahoma and Alabama. The fentanyl and methamphetamine seizures followed wire intercepts of Thomas’s contraband cellphone.

This case is the product of an investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen A. Escobar is prosecuting the case.

Mitchell is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on Dec. 1, 2025. Mitchell faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest‑level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor‑led, intelligence‑driven, multi‑agency approach.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.