Beloit Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Heroin Trafficking

MADISON, WI—John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Maurice D. Vaughn, 38, of Beloit, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 20 years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute heroin in Beloit during 2010. The investigation began when Beloit Police became concerned in the summer of 2010 that there had been a number of heroin overdoses.

Vaughn was found guilty of the conspiracy charge by a jury after a three-day trial in federal court in Madison in January 2012. At trial, witnesses testified that during the summer of 2010, Vaughn supplied 50 to 80 bags of heroin each day to Maurice Lockhart and Carlos Ford, who then distributed them in the Beloit area. Customers contacted Vaughn to arrange the heroin deals, and then Vaughn would arrange for Ford or Lockhart to deliver the heroin to those customers.

Ford pleaded guilty to a federal heroin charge in early 2011 and was sentenced in August 2011 to five years in federal prison. Lockhart, who was also found guilty following the January trial, will be sentenced on April 9, 2012. He faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Judge Conley told Vaughn that a significant sentence was necessary, since a previous nearly 10-year federal sentence for drug trafficking by Vaughn had served no deterrent effect. Once out of prison, he returned to dealing in drugs despite other choices he could have made.

The charges against Vaughn, Lockhart, and Ford were the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, which consists of the Beloit Police Department, Rock County Sheriff’s Office, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Anderson.