INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — One convicted drug trafficker will spend the rest of his life in prison and another will spend the next 25 years there the men learned today in court. Risto Wyatt, 30, and Christopher Brown, 35, were convicted last month on conspiracy to traffic cocaine and perjury charges.
Brown received a life sentence, while Wyatt received 25 years.
The convictions stem from a 2010 wire tap investigation conducted by the Multi Agency Criminal Enforcement Unit in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.
According to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, the men’s phone calls were monitored over the course of two months. In that time, the men made several trips to Orlando, purchasing 12 to 20 ounces of crack cocaine each time.
Authorities said Wyatt and Brown then brought the drugs back to Indian River County, where it was repackaged and sold for as much as $5,000 an ounce.
The perjury charges stem from a point in the investigation when detectives conducted a traffic stop of the suspects and seized nearly $16,000 in cash that was slated to be used for the purchase of drugs. During a forfeiture hearing, Wyatt and Brown testified that they were did not know the money was in their car and that they had been in Brevard County all day prior to the traffic stop.
They were unaware that detectives had been monitoring their phone calls and had followed them to Orlando where they had set up a drug deal that was subsequently cancelled, requiring them to bring the cash back home.
