Member of the Jenifer Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Michael Williams, age 41, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute cocaine.  

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; Commissioner Kevin Davis of the Baltimore Police Department; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to his plea agreement and court documents, from September 2012 until his arrest in October 2014, Kedrick Jenifer was the head of a drug organization (Jenifer DTO) that transported cocaine and cash between Baltimore and Houston, Texas.  Jenifer supplied kilograms of cocaine to Michael Williams and others for distribution in and around the Baltimore-Washington area.  The Jenifer DTO obtained its cocaine from sources of supply in and around Houston. The Jenifer DTO would hide money in secret compartments in “courier vehicles” that were transported from Baltimore to Houston.  The cocaine was then transported from Houston to Baltimore hidden in the courier vehicles.

In September 2012, Texas State Police stopped a courier vehicle in Chambers County, Texas.  Law enforcement officers discovered approximately 30 kilograms of cocaine hidden in secret compartments within the vehicle. Between August 2013 and October 2014, approximately 30 shipments of cocaine concealed in secret compartments in the courier vehicles were made to the Jenifer DTO.  During this time, Williams was frequently seen meeting with Jenifer and providing Jenifer with money in exchange for cocaine. In addition, during a separate joint FBI and Baltimore City Police Department investigation in 2014, law enforcement learned that Williams was supplying street level drug shops in Baltimore City with cocaine.

Williams admitted that during his participation in the conspiracy, the Jenifer DTO was responsible for the distribution of at least 750 kilograms of cocaine between August 2013 and October 2014.

Kedrick Arnold Jenifer, a/k/a “Ricky Jenifer,” “James Howard Collier, Jr.” and “Rick,” age 44, of Bowie, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2016.  Eight other co-conspirators have pleaded guilty.  Andre Brewer, age 36, of Jessup, Maryland; Brooke Renee Lunn, a/k/a “Brooke Thomas” and “Brooke Renee,” age 49; William Hegie, age 55; Kermit Clark, age 45; and Elroy Johnson, age 49, all of Baltimore; and Tyrone Allen, age 44, of Bowie, Maryland, and Thomas Simmons, age 38, of Hampton, Virginia, were sentenced to between 10 and 16 years in prison.   

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation, Baltimore City and County Police Departments, and the FBI for their work in the investigation, and expressed his appreciation to the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Texas and the Southern District of New York for their assistance.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney John W. Sippel, Jr., who is prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.