20 year sentence for illegal distribution

TYLER – On Wednesday, an East Texan was given a 20-year prison sentence for allegedly distributing illegal substances, namely crack cocaine. In the 475th District Court, Derrish Graydon, 44, entered a guilty plea to participating in organized crime. According to court documents, he was subsequently given a 20-year term for the offense. In relation to the alleged crack cocaine ring that operated in buildings close to nearby daycare centers and schools, Graydon is the third person to enter a guilty plea and get a term. On May 7, Samatraus Forge, who was found to be the leader of a criminal organization with others serving as his drug salespeople, was given a life sentence after entering a guilty plea to three charges of organized crime.

Graydon was one of their accomplices. Kendrez Johnson, Brittany Tuck, Jonathan Blackshire, Charles Miller, Tommy Spikes, Ronald Calloway, Jannie Brown, Quashunn Mitchell, and Jeffrey Padilla were among the other individuals named as co-conspirators. According to documents, the informant supplied money to Forge or his employees on several occasions and received varying amounts of crack cocaine at residences in the Tyler area. At these residences, police discovered meth, crack cocaine, numerous guns, scales, baggies, packaging materials, and a large amount of cash. The informant and the salespeople made sales between October 2024 and May 2025. Spikes was discovered dead in May 2025 at a location that Forge repeatedly described as a “trap” residence, or a place where drugs were peddled. Additionally, Spikes described himself as a 5-2 Hoover Crip