Springfield Cocaine Dealer Sentenced to Prison

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Cristan Taylor, 48, of Springfield was sentenced today to three years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Taylor pleaded guilty on Dec. 15, 2016. According to court documents, Taylor sold cocaine from November 2014 until February 2016. During much of this time period, Taylor obtained quantities ranging from one ounce to one kilogram at a time from Hameed Jide Bello of Fort Washington, Maryland. Taylor would then redistribute this cocaine to others in Fairfax County and Pennsylvania. In total, Taylor admitted to distributing between 3.5 and 5 kilograms of cocaine.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; and Andrew W. Vale, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carina A. Cuellar prosecuted the case.

The case began as a narcotics investigation initiated by the Fairfax County Police Department, and was federally investigated by the FBI and DEA as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Fifty Pounder. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:16-cr-280.