Clarence Coby, Fentanyl Trafficking, Maryland 2023

Baltimore, Maryland – On October 10, 2023, U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III sentenced Clarence Coby, age 48, of Baltimore, Maryland, to 14 years in federal prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the Drug Enforcement Administration – Washington Division; Acting Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal E. Awad; and Annapolis Police Chief Edward Jackson.

According to his guilty plea, in November 2019, the DEA received information about a number of drug trafficking organizations operating in and around the Annapolis, Maryland area and identified Orlando Ray Coleman, Sr. as a drug trafficker responsible for distributing drugs to those organizations.  Additional investigation revealed that Clarence Coby was a source of supply to Coleman, specifically providing Coleman and other Annapolis-areas drug traffickers with fentanyl and cocaine.

In mid-May 2021, several search warrants were executed on houses and vehicles associated with Coby.  Investigators recovered at Coby’s house, a total of 5 guns and ammunition, more than a kilogram of cocaine and approximately 62 grams of fentanyl pills, and approximately $109,941 in drug proceeds.  Investigators also executed search and seizure warrants on Coby’s vehicles and recovered approximately seven kilograms of fentanyl, 947 grams of cocaine and 264 grams of heroin hidden in secret compartments in one of Coby’s vehicles.

Coby was sentenced to 14 years in prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Baltimore Police Department.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the program launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

This prosecution is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location.  This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.  The specific mission of the Baltimore Strike Force is to reduce violent, drug-related, and gang crime in the Baltimore area and surrounding region.  The Baltimore SF is comprised of agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Baltimore Police Department, the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, the Anne Arundel County Police Department, the Baltimore County Police Department, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, the Maryland National Guard, the Maryland State Police, and the Maryland Transportation Authority, and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland.

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