JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Eight members of an armed drug trafficking organization who were recently indicted on federal charges include a 44-year-old Jacksonville woman who played a major role in the operation, according to court documents.
Kimberly Walker and seven others are charged with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute MDMA, a drug also known as ecstasy or molly, and another drug commonly referred to as flakka.
According to court documents, Walker appears to have been the person who was calling the shots in what is described by federal investigators as a drug trafficking organization. According to transcripts from phone conversations that were intercepted by federal agents, Walker made sure narcotics were available for sale at a “trap house” on 14th Street, which is described by undercover agents as a home where narcotics are stored and sold from.
According to the transcripts, there were also phone conversations between Walker and a relative about bagging synthetic drugs later identified as molly and flakka. Another intercepted conversation includes comments made by Walker about co-defendant Brandiesa Williams, who was shot. Walker is recorded saying, “They don’t want to take the bullet out because it may cause more damage,” court documents show.
Also in the court documents is a transcript from a text message between Walker and an unidentified person about receiving bags of narcotics and making sure it’s the exact amount.
News4Jax also learned that on Jan. 14, an undercover agent and a confidential informant entered a BP gas station in Arlington believed to be owned by Walker and then later confirmed after another informant showed investigators a News4Jax story on Walker becoming the first African American to purchase a BP gas station in Florida.
In March, according to court documents, a confidential informant wearing a recording device and working under the direction of federal agents showed up at the “trap house” and reportedly purchased flakka and molly.
Walker and the other suspects had been under constant surveillance from both on the ground and from a helicopter overhead -- which is also how investigators said they learned some of the drug transactions took place outside a strip club on Blanding Boulevard.
The combination of surveillance and evidence from a controlled drug purchase is what led to the indictment.
Financial investigation
According to a federal complaint affidavit, Walker comes across as the person who was calling the shots, but when the IRS began its investigation into her and a man believed to be her husband’s finances, there were red flags.
IRS criminal investigators who had joined other federal agencies investigating Kimberly Walker and Neal Walker, 50, of Jacksonville, for alleged narcotics-related offenses said the two passed more than $1 million into multiple bank accounts since January 2018. But, according to the IRS, neither had a significant source of legitimate income. The IRS said the couple earned substantial amounts of money through their drug trafficking organization and laundered their earnings through limited liability companies, financial institutions, real estate investments and the BP gas station owned by Kimberly Walker.
According to a federal complaint, Kimberly Walker last reported income taxes in 2017 when she was last employed. The complaint stated her 2017 earnings for the year were $23,167. The IRS said she didn’t file income taxes in 2018, nor the following year.
IRS investigators said Neal Walker reported no income between 2017 and 2019. According to investigators, in 2017, he had only earned $2,754 for the entire year while working in construction.
Despite the lack of reported income, the IRS said the couple still managed to funnel more than $1 million into various bank accounts with the help of co-defendants who were also indicted with the couple, as well as relatives who were not indicted.