Tarik Brooks, Crack Cocaine Distribution Conspiracy, Maryland 2024

BALTIMORE, MD – The grim reality of Baltimore’s streets was illuminated this week as four men were sentenced for their roles in a citywide crack cocaine distribution conspiracy. Tarik Brooks, Jermaine Epps, Terry Downs, and Theodore Smith faced justice after their guilty pleas.

Brooks, 41, led the pack with a sentence of 151 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. His cohort, Epps, age 42, was handed 108 months for his role as a street lieutenant overseeing sales. Downs, 24, and Smith, 41, each received sentences of 60 months and 108 months respectively.

The United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein, along with Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, and Baltimore County Police Chief Terrence B. Sheridan, announced the guilty pleas and sentences.

According to their plea agreements, these men were part of a criminal syndicate that operated an open-air drug market at the 600 block of Glenwood Avenue. They sold the organization’s signature orange-top vials of crack cocaine, converted powder cocaine into crack, and even dealt large quantities of heroin from stash houses across North Baltimore.

The defendants’ activities did not go unnoticed. On June 16, 2016, over 1,100 orange-top vials were seized, along with other narcotics and a firearm from Epps’ residence. The conspirators also used a bar as a front for their drug operations, leading to another seizure on September 1, 2016.

Epps, Downs, and Smith each had direct involvement in the distribution of crack cocaine. Brooks was responsible for packaging the drugs before they were distributed. Their sentences send a stark message: The streets of Baltimore will no longer be safe havens for drug trafficking.

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