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Press Release

District Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Role in Drug Conspiracy Based in Northeast Washington

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia
Defendant Repeatedly Sold Heroin on Behalf of Drug Trafficking Organization

            WASHINGTON – Grady Jefferson, 46, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to five years on prison for conspiring to distribute heroin in the Washington, D.C. area.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Jefferson pled guilty in September 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to a charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. The plea, which was subject to the Court’s approval, called for a five-year prison term. The Honorable Trevor N. McFadden accepted the plea and sentenced Jefferson accordingly. Following his prison term, Johnson will be placed on four years of supervised release.

            Jefferson was among 12 people indicted in December 2017 following an investigation into a drug trafficking organization that distributed large amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Ten other defendants have pleaded guilty. One defendant was convicted at trial before Judge McFadden in October 2018. One defendant is scheduled to begin trial before Judge McFadden on Jan. 8, 2018.   

            According to plea documents, law enforcement began investigating drug trafficking activities in the 2600 block of Birney Place SE in late 2015. The investigation expanded to include heroin distribution activities in the Lincoln Heights area of Northeast Washington. The FBI identified Jefferson as a regular heroin distributor operating out of Lincoln Heights. According to the government’s evidence, Jefferson was selling heroin on behalf of another defendant, Thomas Jenkins, 44, of District Heights, Md.

            The prosecution grew out of the efforts of the FBI/MPD Safe Streets Task Force, a multi-agency team that conducts comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The prosecution was sponsored and supported by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu, Assistant Director in Charge McNamara, and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Safe Streets Task Force, including the FBI, MPD, U.S. Park Police, Prince George's County, Md. Police, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

            Finally they cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nihar Mohanty and Kevin L. Rosenberg of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Swanton, who assisted with the forfeiture aspects of the investigation.

 

Updated December 14, 2018

Topic
Drug Trafficking
Press Release Number: 18-346