D.C. Dealer Ronald Hinkle Slammed with 6 Years for Gun-Toting Cocaine Ring

A 46-year-old Washington, D.C. man has been sentenced to six years behind bars for his role in a cocaine trafficking operation that also involved firearms, federal authorities announced yesterday.

Ronald Hinkle, also known as ‘Ronald Archer,’ pleaded guilty in August 2023 to one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly handed down the sentence, which includes five years of supervised release and community service.

The investigation into Hinkle’s operation began on February 21, 2018, when law enforcement officers arrested him on the 2500 block of R Street SE after he entered a rental car. A search of Hinkle’s waistband turned up 84 grams of crack cocaine in plastic bags, while an additional eight grams of cocaine and 30 grams of heroin were discovered in the vehicle.

Agents obtained a warrant and searched Hinkle’s nearby one-bedroom apartment, where they recovered several kilograms of cocaine, hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of contraband, and three firearms. The firearms, a Ruger and a Glock, were later tested at FBI forensic labs and linked to Hinkle through his DNA.

The investigation was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) probe, which targets high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. This case was a joint effort between the FBI Washington Field Office, the DEA, and MPD’s Violent Crime Suppression Division, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cameron Tepfer and Thomas Strong handling the prosecution.

Hinkle’s sentence is a significant blow to the city’s cocaine trade, which has long plagued Washington D.C. neighborhoods. The case serves as a reminder of the severe consequences faced by those who choose to engage in this type of criminal activity.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia praised the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation, saying their work ‘demonstrates the commitment of federal, state, and local partners to dismantle the highest-level drug trafficking organizations that threaten our communities.’