Forge was arrested back in 2025 after an informant told a detective that he was the head of a criminal organization selling drugs near schools.
TYLER, Texas — An East Texas man who led an operation selling illegal drugs, mainly crack cocaine, at buildings near local schools and daycares was sentenced to life in prison.
Samatraus Forge, pleaded guilty to three counts of engaging in organized crime. On Thursday, he was sentenced to life in prison during a hearing in the 475th District Court.
Forge was arrested back in 2025 after a credible informant told a detective that Forge is the head of a criminal organization with nine people acting as his salespersons for illegal drugs, an arrest affidavit said.
The document explains that there were multiple times when the informant gave money to Forge or his workers and receiving different amounts of crack cocaine at Tyler-area homes.
Officers found meth, crack cocaine, many firearms, scales, baggies, packaging material and a lot of U.S. currency at these homes. The dates of the sales between the informant and the salespersons range from October 2024 to May 2025, the documents detailed.
The named co-conspirators included: Kendrez Johnson, Brittany Tuck, Johnathan Blackshire, Charles Miller, Tommy Spikes, Derrish Graydon, Ronald Calloway, Jannie Brown, Quashunn Mitchell and Jeffery Padilla.
So far, Padilla is the only other co-defendant to be convicted in this case. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison after accepting a guilty plea in January. Records show that Blackshire has not been indicted at this time.
In May 2025, Spikes was found dead at an address that was provided many times by Forge as a “trap” house, or somewhere where narcotics were sold. Spikes also referred to himself as a 5-2 Hoover Crip, a criminal gang, the document explained.
Information received led detectives to find that many of the people involved in this operation are a part of the 5-2 Hoover Crip gang. Each location where the drugs were sold were within 1,000 feet of elementary schools and daycare facilities, the arrest affidavit said.