Chicago Man Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison for Distributing Crack Cocaine While on Court-Supervised Release

ROCKFORD — A Chicago man has been sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for drug conspiracy and distribution of cocaine.

JULIAN WYRE, 46, was convicted by a jury in December 2023 on one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine base and seven counts of distribution of cocaine base.  Wyre distributed the cocaine in 2019 in Rock Falls, Ill.  U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston imposed the sentence on Monday after a hearing in federal court in Rockford.

In 2008, Wyre was sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment for illegally possessing cocaine base with the intent to distribute. He was on federal court-supervised release at the time of the conspiracy and distribution charges for which he was sentenced this week.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  The Illinois State Police, Illinois State Police Blackhawk Area Task Force, and Rockford Resident Agency of the FBI Chicago Field Office provided valuable assistance in the investigation. 

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert S. Ladd and Jonathan S. Kim.