July 22nd, 2025 – 3:45 PM
WRGA Staff Reports –
(From the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia) A California drug trafficker who funneled massive amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine into Northwest Georgia will spend nearly three decades in federal prison.
Wilfort Foster, III, 41, of El Monte, California, was sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal narcotics and money laundering conspiracy charges.
Prosecutors say Foster led a multi-state operation that moved hundreds of kilograms of meth and significant quantities of fentanyl from California into communities including Cartersville, Rockmart, and Rome between 2017 and 2022.
Foster, who continued running the ring while on probation for a prior drug case, laundered more than $600,000 in drug proceeds through Georgia connections and kept his network in line with violence, once breaking a co-defendant’s jaw over a debt.
“This sentence sends a strong message to anyone trafficking deadly drugs into North Georgia,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, crediting local law enforcement in Bartow and Polk counties for helping dismantle the network.
Other members of the operation have also been prosecuted, including Cartersville resident Steven Ham, sentenced to 15 years, and Rockmart resident Lori Silvers, who pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.
The investigation — involving the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force, and multiple local police departments — led to major drug and cash seizures, as well as more than a dozen firearms.
Foster will serve five years of supervised release after his prison term.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America: This nationwide initiative marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).