Hudson Man Sentenced to 120 Months for Crack Cocaine Conspiracy

ALBANY, NEW YORK – William “Whoody” Morrison, age 32, of Hudson, New York, was sentenced yesterday to 120 months in prison for his involvement in a crack cocaine distribution ring that operated in Columbia County.  Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy ordered that the sentence run consecutive to a 36-month term of imprisonment Morrison is serving for violating supervised release conditions imposed as part of a 2011 federal drug conviction.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith; Keith M. Corlett, Superintendent of the New York State Police; James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Chief L. Edward Moore of the Hudson Police Department.

As part of his guilty plea, Morrison admitted that between August and December 2017, he was involved in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in Columbia County.  The defendant further admitted that members of the conspiracy made weekly trips to New York City where they purchased hundreds of grams of powder cocaine, returned it to Hudson, converted it to crack cocaine, and then sold it to customers.  The defendant admitted that the organization sold at least 464 grams of crack cocaine between August and December 2017.

Judge McAvoy also imposed a 5-year term of supervised release, to begin after Morrison’s release from prison.

This case was investigated by the New York State Police’s Special Investigations Unit in Albany, the FBI, and the Hudson Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wayne A. Myers and Joshua R. Rosenthal.