Police, TBI announce largest-ever meth bust in Nashville history

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Significant amounts of crystal methamphetamines, fentanyl, and firearms have allegedly been confiscated in Nashville.

The Metro Nashville Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are calling it the largest methamphetamine investigation and seizure in Nashville’s history.

Police Chief John Drake and the Assistant Director for the TBI, Darryl Richardson, addressed the press on Wednesday to provide details on the seizure.

Chief Drake said the department believes more than 5,000 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl have been shipped into Nashville in the past few years.

Since November 22, 2022, MNPD has intercepted more than 800 pounds of crystal meth and 24-plus pounds of fentanyl, Chief Drake said. Thirteen people were identified in a Davidson County grand jury indictment alleging a series of drug conspiracy, drug distribution, and gun crimes in the region.

The main suspect identified during the investigation was a man from La Puente, California, 34-year-old Francisco Velasquez Serrano, according to Chief Drake. Serrano would often travel to Nashville to meet with his distributors: 24-year-old James Maurice Butler and 40-year-old Jeffrey Carl Jones.

Chief Drake said Butler and Jones headed separate outfits that would allegedly arrange shipments of crystal methamphetamine to various Nashville locations, then would retrieve and store the drugs for later distribution. They would often use the real addresses of unsuspecting Nashville residents for deliveries, then would quickly snatch up the packages as the delivery trucks drove away, according to the investigation.

TBI’s Assistant Director Richardson followed by thanking each agency for their assistance in the investigation, including agents with US Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms (ATF), and the Murfreesboro and Smyrna Police departments.