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.
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.
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema presided over the sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carina A. Cuellar prosecuted the case. Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for the DEA’s Washington Field Division; and Andrew W. Vale, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement.
Taylor’s sentence is a result of a joint investigation between the FBI, DEA, and Fairfax County Police Department. The case highlights the ongoing efforts of law enforcement to disrupt and dismantle major drug trafficking organizations in the region.
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- Washington, DC Man Guilty of Facilitating Heroin Distribution · Virginia
Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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