Home Washington Press Releases 2010 Last Remaining Defendant in Large PCP Ring Convicted of Drug Conspiracy at Trial
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Last Remaining Defendant in Large PCP Ring Convicted of Drug Conspiracy at Trial

U.S. Attorney’s Office November 04, 2010
  • District of Columbia (202) 252-6933

WASHINGTON—Coolridge Bell, 46, of New York, N.Y., was convicted by a jury this week of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute one kilogram or more of Phencyclidine (PCP). He was the final defendant to be tried in a multi-agency investigation into a large-scale drug ring that operated in Washington, D.C. and along the East Coast.

The guilty verdict, returned November 3, 2010, was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., John G. Perren, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Cathy L. Lanier, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Charles G. Dunne, United States Marshal for the Eastern District of New York.

Judge Thomas F. Hogan, who presided over the trial in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, scheduled Bell’s sentencing hearing for January 13, 2011.

Bell was a member of a drug ring headed by Lonnell Glover. From 2005 to 2007, the FBI conducted a long-term investigation that revealed that Glover, now 49, was a major supplier of PCP and heroin in the District of Columbia and elsewhere on the East Coast. The investigation was supported by the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a nationwide program that uses multi-agency teams to conducts comprehensive investigations of major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.

Between February and June of 2007, Glover and Bell, acting in conjunction with 24 other coconspirators, obtained approximately 50 gallons of PCP and distributed the drug in New York City and District of Columbia metropolitan areas. The PCP had a wholesale street value of more than $1 million. During that same time period, Glover and co-conspirators obtained and distributed multiple kilograms of heroin in the D.C. area, and attempted to obtain numerous kilograms of cocaine from the Bahamas. On June 19, 2007, law enforcement members arrested a total of 26 defendants as a result of the investigation. That same day, law enforcement recovered over $400,000, numerous firearms, several gallons of PCP, and a large amount of heroin.

Bell was responsible for trafficking approximately 13 gallons of PCP from D.C. to New York City. He received the PCP from Glover and then had a network of individuals who sold the PCP on the streets of New York. Bell remained a fugitive until September of 2009, when Deputy United States Marshals from the Eastern District of New York located Bell in the Bronx, New York.

All told, 32 defendants were charged as a result of their participation in the Glover drug trafficking rings. Thirty defendants have either pleaded guilty or were found guilty at trial, one defendant was acquitted at trial, and one defendant died in prison while awaiting trial. Seven separate trials were conducted against several of the defendants, including Glover. Glover and several of his co-conspirators were sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment.

In addition, in November of 2009, after a bench trial, Judge Hogan ruled that Glover’s residence in Temple Hills, Maryland was used to facilitate the drug conspiracy and therefore forfeited the residence to the government. Judge Hogan also required Glover to forfeit $1,050,000, which constituted proceeds from his drug conspiracy.

In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen, Acting Assistant Director in Charge Perren, Chief Lanier and Marshal Dunne commended the work of the law enforcement members from the FBI, MPD and United States Marshals Service. They also praised the efforts of Supervisory Paralegal James Mazzitelli and Assistant United States Attorneys John Han and Anthony Scarpelli, who prosecuted Bell, Glover, and the remaining defendants.

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