A California man who ran a massive drug operation from his barbershop will spend nearly three decades in federal prison for flooding North Georgia with deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine.
🚔 The Takedown: Wilfort Foster III, 41, of El Monte, California, received a 28-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to running a drug trafficking and money laundering operation that moved hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and fentanyl from California to Georgia.
Foster operated a stash house and illegal gambling operation from his California barbershop, using it as a base to supply his network. In one instance, he provided a co-defendant with more than 22 kilograms of methamphetamine that was later seized by law enforcement.
🔍 Between the Lines: Foster maintained tight control over his operation, once breaking a co-defendant’s jaw during a dispute over drug debt. He continued his criminal enterprise despite being on probation in California for a previous case involving nine kilograms of methamphetamine and two firearms.
💰 Follow the Money: The operation laundered more than $600,000 in drug proceeds back to Foster in California using shell companies. Conspirators flew with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to California to keep the operation funded.
🔫 Weapons Involved: During the investigation, authorities seized more than a dozen firearms, including an AR-15 rifle, showing the connection between drug trafficking and weapons.
🧩 The Bigger Picture: This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative targeting drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations. Several other members of Foster’s network have also been convicted, including Steven Ham of Cartersville, who received a 15-year sentence, with five more co-conspirators awaiting sentencing.
The Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Jae W. Chung, FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown, and HSI Special Agent in Charge Steven N. Schrank.
⚠️ Reminder: Crime articles contain only charges and information from police reports and law enforcement statements. Suspects and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
How to Read and Understand the News
Truth doesn’t bend because we dislike it.
Facts don’t vanish when they make us uncomfortable.
Events happen whether we accept them or not.
Good reporting challenges us. The press isn’t choosing sides — it’s relaying what official, verified sources say. Blaming reporters for bad news is like blaming a thermometer for a fever.
Americans have a history of misunderstanding simple things. In the 1980s, A&W rolled out a 1/3-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. It failed because too many people thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If we can botch basic math, we can certainly misread the news.
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Smart news consumers seek truth, not comfort.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
