VALDOSTA — A Valdosta prison inmate described by officials as a high-ranking gang member pleaded guilty Thursday to directing a large meth trafficking operation, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Donald Jason Miles — aka “Crash” and “Cocho” — 39, of Valdosta State Prison and Forsyth, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, a statement from the justice department said.

Co-defendants Warren Frederick Courts aka “Dirty,” 38, of Rutledge State Prison and Marietta, and Keeli Nycole Wallace, 34, of Covington, both pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on Aug. 15 and Aug. 14 respectively. All defendants face a minimum of ten years to a maximum of life in prison to be followed by ten years of supervised release and a maximum $10 million fine.

Undercover Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents conducted a drug bust at an Albany motel Sept. 12, 2022, resulting from a larger investigation into drug trafficking from Georgia prisons, the statement said.

Agents learned Courts, a state prisoner, had arranged a drug transaction from behind bars and hired Wallace as a drug courier to move methamphetamine from a Mexico-based source located in metro Atlanta to Southwest Georgia. Agents arrested Wallace in the parking lot of the motel, finding approximately 1,400 grams of methamphetamine and her cell phones.

Investigators discovered Miles had recruited Wallace as a drug courier several months before her arrest. Wallace admitted she had performed 10-15 deliveries of 250 grams or less of methamphetamine at Miles’s direction. Miles introduced Wallace to Courts; both Miles and Courts are members of the prison-based criminal organization, Ghostface Gangsters, the Department of Justice said. Courts is a subordinate of Miles, as demonstrated by Courts giving Miles a portion of the profit he made from selling narcotics, the statement said. During one transaction, Courts instructed Wallace to obtain methamphetamine from a Mexico-based source of supply near Atlanta and take it to meet a buyer at a store in Albany. The buyer did not show up, and Miles instructed Wallace to return to Atlanta. The next day, Courts told Wallace that the intended buyer was ready. She returned to the motel in Albany, where she was subsequently arrested, the justice department said.

At the time, Miles was incarcerated at Valdosta State Prison, and Courts was incarcerated at Rutledge State Prison. Georgia Department of Corrections officers searched their prison cells on Sept. 16, recovering contraband mobile phones. Search warrants were executed on the phones, and investigators discovered detailed communications between Miles, Courts and Wallace related to the drug conspiracy, including communications involving the Mexico-based source of supply and the trafficking of large quantities of methamphetamine, according to the statement.