Elkton Woman Pleads Guilty to Laundering Over $400,000 in Drug Proceeds
Used Drug Proceeds to Gamble, Buy Numerous Properties, and Give to Operators of Used Car Businesses

BALTIMORE—Joy Edison, age 25, of Elkton, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to launder.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Sparkman of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.

According to Edison’s plea agreement, from December 2003 to August 2010 Edison and her co-conspirators conducted financial transactions to conceal over $400,000 generated from the sale of heroin in Baltimore City. Edison and her co-conspirators used the cash proceeds of drug sales to: gamble at Las Vegas casinos, for which the “cash-outs” exceeded $184,000; purchase “winning” Maryland lottery tickets in amounts exceeding $138,000 in order to disguise drug proceeds as legitimate lottery winnings; deposit over $79,000 into Edison’s bank accounts during 2007 and 2008; give hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to individuals operating used car businesses; and buy a residence for Edison in Elkton and at least seven properties in Baltimore.

Edison faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz has scheduled sentencing for August 12, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. As part of her plea agreement, Edison agrees to forfeit her interest in eight properties purchased with drug proceeds and any other property purchased with drug trafficking proceeds.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Officel Studdard and Tim Lake; the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York; the DEA and FBI, and their New York offices; and the Maryland State Police for their assistance in this investigation. Mr Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys James G. Warwick and James T. Wallner, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.