Cleveland Daycare Drug Mill Bust Nets 12-Year Prison Term

Larry Crenshaw-Broadnax, 36, has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after investigators say he was manufacturing methamphetamine and fentanyl pills and trafficking them out of a home day care he operated in Cleveland. During searches, federal agents reported finding industrial pill-press equipment, thousands of finished pills, and bulk quantities of meth and fentanyl, along with firearms. One loaded handgun was discovered hidden inside a child’s toy toolbox. The court also ordered five years of supervised release to follow his prison term.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio, Crenshaw-Broadnax pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl and received a 144-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson. Prosecutors said the federal investigation began in January 2023 and led agents to a warehouse where they found thousands of blue pills, bags of white powder, and multicolored tablets, along with industrial pill-press machines and a five-gallon bucket of binding agent. Lab testing confirmed the pills and powders contained methamphetamine and fentanyl.

As reported by FOX 8, agents also searched Crenshaw-Broadnax’s residence and found evidence that the house was operating as a home day care, with pills and powders present on site. Authorities recovered two handguns during the searches, including a loaded firearm hidden in a child’s toy toolbox, which investigators said heightened the risk to children and neighbors. Officials noted that the case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Cleveland Field Office.

What investigators found

Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio, agents seized about 20 kilograms of methamphetamine and roughly 315 grams of fentanyl, in addition to thousands of pills and multiple pill presses used to manufacture tablets. Investigators described finished pills in blue and other colors, with packaging that they said matched large-scale trafficking. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Crook for the Northern District of Ohio.

Why this matters

Small, clandestine pill-press labs have been linked to a growing number of deadly counterfeit tablets in recent years, and federal officials warn that local manufacturing makes it easier for lethal fentanyl to spread into communities. The DEA’s Fentanyl Free America initiative has highlighted seizures of pill presses and millions of counterfeit pills in recent enforcement efforts as part of a nationwide push to disrupt that trend. The DEA has said such operations pose acute public-safety risks.

Federal prosecutors said the sentence in Cleveland is part of broader work aimed at targeting clandestine manufacturing and distribution networks that combine stimulants and synthetic opioids. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and its law-enforcement partners emphasized that investigations like this one remain active, and the case was handled by the DEA Cleveland Field Office and prosecuted by AUSA Elizabeth Crook, FOX 8 reported. Crenshaw-Broadnax will serve his federal prison term before beginning supervised release when his sentence is complete.