Promoter Sentenced For Drug-Trafficking

An Atlanta concert promoter was sentenced to almost 11 years in jail Sept. 20 for conspiracy to distribute MDMA, also known as molly or ecstasy, through raves and music festivals he helped promote.

Panama City Beach Police Department – Woodie Louis Ochle

Woodie Louis Ochle, co-owner of Freakstep Promotions, was sentenced for distributing MDMA throughout Georgia’s Jefferson and Shelby counties between February 2015 and April 2016, and possession with intent to distribute. Olche pled guilty to the charges in April.

In 2016, federal agencies launched an investigation into the “large-scale smuggling and distribution” of ecstasy from Europe to the U.S. through the U.S. postal service, according to a statement released by the Attorney’s Office.

On April 7, 2016, U.S. customs and border protection seized two packages, each containing 1,000 “Red Supreme” ecstasy pills, at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The packages were separately addressed to Kenneth Howard of Chelsea, Ga., and Jennifer Petitjean of Bessemer, Ala.

Homeland Security agents arranged controlled deliveries of the packaged, which were ultimately delivered to Ochle and Kevin Pederson, Howard’s cousin.

A further investigation led to ecstasy, Xanax, LSD, cocaine and marijuana being discovered in Pederson’s car. The drugs were intended to be distributed at Spring Weekend, a music festival set in Panama City Beach, Fla.

Law Enforcement seized about 30 pounds of drugs throughout the entire investigation, including 20,000 ecstasy pills and four pounds of “crystal molly.”

Freakstep Promotions is based in Atlanta and was founded in 2014.