FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT NOVEMBER 28, 2007 (202) 514-2007 WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888   Two Maryland men who arranged for PCP to be smuggled by drug couriers on commercial airlines found guilty of federal narcotics trafficking conspiracy charges

Washington, D.C. - Two Maryland men who arranged for phencyclidine (PCP) to be smuggled by drug couriers on commercial airlines from California to Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport have been found guilty of federal narcotics trafficking conspiracy charges, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor today.

Troy Hopkins, 31, of Lanham, Maryland, and John Downs, III, 29, of Annapolis, Maryland, were both found guilty today by a federal jury sitting in the District of Columbia of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of PCP. Hopkins and Downs will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton on February 20, 2008. Hopkins faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment, while Downs faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life imprisonment.

According to the government's evidence, beginning in at least 2005, Troy Hopkins and others met their main drug supplier in California and began purchasing multiple gallons of PCP immediately. Hopkins established a pattern of using drug couriers to carry the PCP aboard discount airline jets that flew between Los Angeles International Airport and Burbank Airport and Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport. Hopkins used drug couriers to carry the PCP hidden in their checked luggage while he took later flights and distanced himself from the couriers during the transportation process. Later, he and the other conspirators switched to using discount airlines that flew between Long Beach Airport and Dulles International Airport because they perceived the security staff at Long Beach Airport to be more relaxed in their approach to security.

On most of the trips, the members of the conspiracy who traveled to Los Angeles purchased at least a gallon of PCP. Rather than carrying the PCP themselves, the supervisory conspirators, including Hopkins, recruited young, often homeless, female drug couriers from distressed neighborhoods, including Compton, California, and persuaded them to risk clearing airport security while holding the drugs in exchange for very little money. While the supervisory conspirators made upwards of $40,000 per gallon of PCP, the couriers were paid as little as $500 to carry the PCP. Evidence established at trial showed that the solvents used in the PCP were highly volatile and placed the airplanes and the passengers at risk. Further evidence showed that Hopkins alone made in excess of 25 trips to Los Angeles during a three year period in order to purchase the PCP. In order to defeat detection by security officials, Hopkins instructed the couriers to place the PCP in mouth wash, body lotion or shampoo bottles.

Once the PCP arrived in the Washington area, local members of the conspiracy then sold the PCP to wholesale customers. The PCP would then be resold on the streets of the District of Columbia and Maryland. After receiving the PCP from his supplier, John Downs distributed the PCP in a distressed Public Housing Project in Annapolis, Maryland known as New Town. Before sending the PCP out on the streets to be sold to drug users, the conspirators diluted the PCP with car starter fluid, a volatile liquid, in order to maximize their profits.

In announcing the guilty verdicts, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agents Timothy Ervin, Tucker Vanderbunt, Kevin Ashby, Timothy Foster, Jesus Gomez, and John Bevington, and FBI Supervisory Telecommunications Specialist Daniel Wentz, Prince George's County Police Detective Sean Deere and the Prince George's County Police Major Narcotics Enforcement Division, Calvert County Sheriff's Detective Scott Parrish, Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agents Amin Fard, John Haggerty, and Cindy Buskey, Supervisory Special Agent James Benicek, and Chemist Steven Demchuck, Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy John Cater, Los Angeles Police Officer John Ashpaugh and Detective Daniel Armand, and Burbank Police Department Detective David Kleinfeld, for their work on the investigation of this case. In addition, U.S. Attorney Taylor also commended legal assistants Carolyn Carter-Mckinley and Kashara Crawford-Boston, Paralegal Supervisor Mary Downing, and Paralegal Specialist Mia Beamon who assisted in the investigation and prosecution, as well as, Litigation Support personnel Thomas Royal, Errol Spears, Tim Linder, Victim Witness Unit Specialist Dawn Tolson-Hightower and Victim Witness Intern Lindsey Lanzendorfer, and Criminal Division Intern Ivana Deyrup. Finally, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Elisa Poteat and Emory V. Cole, who investigated and prosecuted this matter.