Federal Indictment and Arrests of Drug Ring Members Announced

WASHINGTON, D.C—Eight individuals have been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into a drug ring operating in Barry Farms and other neighborhoods within the District of Columbia, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy L. Lanier, Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Washington Field Office Shawn Henry, and Salvatore R. Lauro, Chief of the U.S. Park Police. The arrests followed the return of a six-count federal indictment on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, charging 13 individuals with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute phencyclidine (PCP), heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine within the District of Columbia and Maryland. The indictment also charges two individual defendants with maintaining a drug-involved premises, and charges five defendants with individual acts of distribution and/or possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.

In connection with the return of the sealed indictment, law enforcement officers from the MPD, FBI, and U.S. Park Police, with the assistance of the Prince George’s County Police Department, executed a series of arrest and search warrants in the District and Prince George’s County in the early morning hours of March 11, 2010. In total, law enforcement executed 19 search warrants in the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County, confiscating over $40,000 in cash, approximately 500 grams (½ kilogram) of crack cocaine, three guns, a quantity of PCP, digital scales, and other paraphernalia.

The defendants will begin making their initial appearances on the charges this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. If convicted, the defendants face sentences from 10 years to life in jail.

This prosecution grew out of a long-term FBI/MPD alliance called the Safe Streets Task Force that targets violent drug trafficking gangs in the District of Columbia. The Safe Streets Initiative is funded in part by the Baltimore Washington High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area as well as the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. The Safe Streets initiative involves more than 150 Safe Streets Task Forces around the country that combat street gangs by combining federal, state and local police resources. The task forces, which began in 1992 in Los Angeles and the District of Columbia, address gang activity including drug-related crimes. Sharing resources, manpower and intelligence allows federal prosecutors to focus on securing the maximum sentences and penalties for gang members found guilty. By working through a task force, investigators can focus on the entire criminal enterprise, instead of prosecution of individual gang members.

An Indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.