Roanoke drug kingpin who had hidden compartments in his ‘Batmobile’ sentenced to 20 years in federal prison

ROANOKE, Va. – The man at the center of one of the largest fentanyl seizures in Virginia will spend the next two decades in prison.

Monta Orlando Jordan, 45, who authorities described as a Roanoke drug kingpin, received a 20-year sentence on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In February 2020, Jordan was convicted of the following:

• Conspiring to distribute heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine;
• Possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl
• Attempting to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine
• Attempting to possess with the intent to distribute heroin
• Possession of one or more firearms in furtherance of the overall drug conspiracy

“Monta Jordan oversaw a significant drug distribution network that pumped various deadly narcotics into the Roanoke Valley, including fentanyl,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bubar. “This significant sentence is the product of a lengthy investigation and trial, that could not have been accomplished without the collaboration between our many federal, state and local law enforcement partners, whose hard work brought Jordan to justice.”

From summer 2016 past his arrest in August 2017, Jordan trafficked more than 119 pounds of different drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine and heroin, into and through the Roanoke Valley, according to authorities.

Jordan retrieved these deliveries at various locations around the Valley View Mall and made cash payments toward his purchases of as much as $320,000 during scheduled meetings.

To pay some of his carriers, Jordan would mail large quantities of cash.

In July 2017, for example, the United States Postal Inspection Service intercepted two packages mailed by Jordan and his associates containing collectively just under $100,000 in cash, according to Cullen.

Inside one package alone, agents reported finding a basketball wrapped in carbon paper and surrounded by miscellaneous chair cushions. The basketball itself had been cut and contained $49,950 in rubber-banded currency.

On Aug. 5, 2017, while searching Jordan’s Ford Fusion, which he referred to as the “Batmobile,” police discovered a secret compartment under the factory-installed carpet in the trunk which contained about 4.5 pounds of fentanyl, the largest seizures of its kind at that time in Virginia.

The drug was contained in plastic bags and covered in an oily masking agent, designed to defeat the scenting capabilities of K-9 drug dogs.