Three Face Crack Cocaine Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office August 08, 2011 |
MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Basil D. Green, 21, Madison, Wis.; Calvin T. Balantine, 29, Chicago; and Taffenisha Strickland, 21, Cottage Grove, Wis., were charged in complaints filed in U.S. District Court today. Balantine and Strickland were charged with conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute. Green is charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
Green, Balantine, and Strickland were arrested in Madison on Friday, August 5; made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Madison today; and were ordered detained pending detention hearings, which have been scheduled for Friday, August 12.
The charges against these three individuals are the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, Rock County Safe Streets Task Force, Wisconsin State Patrol, and Madison Police Department. The prosecution of this matter has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Reinhard.
You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.