 |
|
|
U.S. Department of Justice PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
|
|
Washington, D.C. - A major PCP trafficking organization has been dismantled as a result of the return of two federal narcotics trafficking conspiracy indictments, the arrests of 21 individuals, and the execution of more than 20 search warrants, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Jennifer Smith Love, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Shawn Johnson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Washington Division Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Chief Cathy L. Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced today.
Federal and local law enforcement leaders convened today to announce the joint law enforcement operation targeting the narcotics trade in the Washington, D.C. area. This operation resulted in the indictment of 26 individuals who were responsible for trafficking Phencyclidine, also known as PCP, and heroin by shipping it to Washington, D.C., as well as selling the PCP and heroin in the Washington, D.C. area and surrounding jurisdictions. Beginning yesterday morning, 21 individuals were arrested on federal narcotics charges and search warrants were executed in at least 20 different locations in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.
“A major pipeline of PCP, one of the most dangerous and destructive drugs on the streets of our community, has been disrupted thanks to the relentless determination of our federal and local law enforcement partners and the hard work of our prosecutors,” said U.S. Attorney Taylor. “We can ill afford to allow PCP to make a comeback in our city. With the continued partnership of our Team D.C. members, we will strive to ensure that it does not. This group of defendants is now out of business and others out there should take notice.”
"Because there is power in partnership, today, twenty-one members of this major PCP and heroin drug trafficking organization which operated in the Washington, D.C. area are out of business and ten neighborhoods in the District of Columbia are safer places to live, work and visit," stated Acting FBI Assistant Director in Charge Smith Love.
Chief Lanier stated, “I wish to commend the members of our Fourth District Vice Unit. As a result of their efforts investigating various cases they were able to develop information that eventually led to this large scale operation which led to the arrests of a large scale drug ring. When named Chief, I vowed that our Department would do everything in its power to better protect and serve our citizens. This operation is another example of our Department’s commitment and what can be accomplished by working with other local and federal agencies.”
DEA Special Agent in Charge Johnson stated, “the success of this investigation is a strong example of what Team DC will continue to do in term of disrupting violent drug trafficking organizations and having a positive impact on the community.”
The operation grew out of a long-term investigation that initially began with a series of arrests and investigations by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District Vice Unit and then developed into a larger investigation conducted by a joint MPD/FBI/DEA/USMS law enforcement operation that targeted several known drug traffickers in the District of Columbia. On June 16, 2007, a federal grand jury returned two indictments under seal charging 26 defendants with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute One Kilogram or more of Phencyclidine. Nineteen of the defendants were also indicted with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute One Kilogram or more of Heroin. The indictments were unsealed yesterday following the arraignment of ten of the arrested individuals in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Another eleven individuals are scheduled to be arraigned today before a federal magistrate in U.S. District Court.
According to the two related federal indictments, the 26 defendants operated as a narcotics distribution organization. It is alleged that the entire conspiracy was largely directed by Lonnell George Glover, 45, Anthony Suggs, 39, who are both based in the Washington, D.C. area, and Velma Williams, 59, who is based in the St. Louis, Missouri area. The trio primarily arranged for the shipment of PCP from other areas of the country for later distribution into the Washington, D.C., with the assistance of their 23 co-defendants.
Yesterday’s operation entailed the joint efforts of approximately 200 law enforcement officers from the Metropolitan Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshal Service, the Maryland State Police, the Prince George’s County Police Department, the Charles County Sheriff’s Department and New York law enforcement authorities. In the early morning hours, the officers spread out throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and New York, and executed the arrest and search warrants. By day’s end, they had arrested 21 individuals and conducted searches of at least 20 different locations related to the drug conspiracy. Those searches resulted in the recovery of almost 5½ gallons of PCP, ½ kilogram of heroin, 17 firearms, and approximately $355,000 in cash and another $145,000 in seized bank accounts.
Under the federal indictments, the defendants face sentencing ranges of ten years to life imprisonment without parole if convicted of the charges at trial.
In announcing the two indictments, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Acting FBI Assistant Director in Charge Smith Love, MPD Chief Lanier and DEA Special Agent in Charge Johnson praised the efforts of all the law enforcement officers who participated in the investigation. Specifically commended were FBI Special Agents John Bevington, Ryan Pardee, Stephen Naugle, Brian Mumford and William McDermott; MPD Commander Hilton Burton, Lieutenant Jude Waddy, Investigators Michael Eames, George Singletary, and V. Norris; DEA Special Agents Tanya Bilyeu and Anthony Conte; and USMS Deputies Thomas O’Brien, Richard Kelly and Christopher Street. They also cited the efforts of U.S. Attorney’s Office Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Mary Downing, Paralegal Specialists Kim Hall and Sandra Holland, Legal Assistant Carolyn Carter-McKinley and Patricia Hall, Erica Radcliff, legal intern, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William O’Malley Jr., Anthony Scarpelli and John Han, who are prosecuting the case.
An Indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
# # # #