Kenan Bernard Allen, known on the streets as "King," has confessed to federal drug and gun charges stemming from his operation out of a Dallas motel room, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas. The 38-year-old trafficker, who has a prior felony conviction, entered his guilty plea yesterday. He now faces a significant federal prison term and a multimillion-dollar fine, with his sentencing set for early March next year.
Allen's criminal enterprise involved the distribution of large amounts of deadly drugs such as fentanyl and heroin, as well as methamphetamine, cocaine, and other controlled substances. He and his associates ran what was effectively a drug emporium out of motel room trap houses, which U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton describes as preying "on users’ crippling addictions, raking in money hand over fist." This admission paints a dire picture of the trap rooms themselves, which served as points of sale and consumption for a destructive array of narcotics, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The drug ring didn't just sell substances; it also brought violence and fear into the equation. Court documents highlighted instances of brutal assaults carried out by Allen and his coconspirators, caught on the hotel's video surveillance. From attacking a victim in the hotel parking lot to burning the foot of an incapacitated female customer, the level of inhumanity exhibited in these acts cannot be overstated. These actions were not just acts of random violence but rather systemic abuses within the business model of the drug trade in this corner of Dallas.
Authorities were able to make the arrest and dismantle part of this drug trafficking operation due to the diligent surveillance and investigative work by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Dallas Police Department. In a significant haul, law enforcement agents seized an arsenal of drugs and weapons during their search of the motel's trap rooms, including "more than two kilograms of methamphetamine, 108 grams of fentanyl, 198 grams of heroin," along with firearms and various other substances, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports.
The consequences for Allen are severe, with a potential 20-year federal prison sentence and a $5 million fine hanging over his head. Meanwhile, six of his associates have also pleaded guilty, and a seventh has signaled his intention to do the same. The fate of the final defendant in the case, Orlando Keith Spells, aka "Kilo," will be decided in a trial early next year.
