District Man Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Trafficking, Agrees to Forfeit More Than $95,000 in Proceeds
Drugs, Cash Were Discovered in Defendant’s Northwest Washington Apartment

WASHINGTON—Alfred Dunigan, 58, has pled guilty to a federal drug charge stemming from a recent search of a Northwest Washington apartment that uncovered cocaine and other drugs, as well as $95,555 in proceeds from drug trafficking activities, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced.

Dunigan pled guilty on February 28, 2011, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of unlawful possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 25, 2011, by the Honorable Judge Richard J. Leon. The charge carries a statutory penalty of at least five years in prison.

As part of the plea agreement, Dunigan agreed to forfeit $95,555 to the government.

According to the government’s evidence, on December 14, 2010, at approximately 2:30 p.m., FBI special agents and an MPD detective executed a search warrant in a basement apartment in the 1900 block of Biltmore Street NW. This residence was leased to Dunigan, who was home and the only person in the residence at the time of the arrival of law enforcement.

Recovered inside the residence were the following items: 1,387.4 grams of cocaine hydrochloride, 3,673.1 grams of marijuana, 16.36 grams of heroin, and $95,555 in United States currency representing proceeds from drug trafficking. In addition, authorities discovered numerous ziplock bags, digital scales, substances used to cut or dilute illegal narcotics, and other items used to measure and distribute illegal narcotics. The cocaine was sent to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Mid-Atlantic Laboratory and analyzed. The DEA laboratory confirmed that the substances were in fact drugs.

This investigation was supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. The task force combines the resources and expertise of the DEA, FBI, and other federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. Its principal mission is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.

In announcing the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director in Charge McJunkin and Chief Lanier commended the work of the special agents and law enforcement officers from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD, as well as Brendan Tracz, a paralegal supervisor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They also acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Scarpelli, who prosecuted the case.