NORFOLK, Va. — Rhadu Schoolfield, 33, of Portsmouth, was sentenced today to 24 years in federal prison for his central role in one of the most destructive heroin and fentanyl trafficking operations ever dismantled in Hampton Roads. The sentence marks a brutal end to a decade-long drug conspiracy that flooded the region with over 100 kilograms of heroin—nearly 250,000 lethal doses—and left a trail of addiction, violence, and death in its wake.
The takedown, known as Operation Hardest Hit, culminated on August 14, 2017, when more than 300 law enforcement agents stormed homes, stash houses, and streets across Virginia, Georgia, and New York. The coordinated assault followed a two-year undercover blitz led by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The investigation was triggered in early 2016 by the overdose death of a young Chesapeake resident—an incident that exposed the deadly reach of the Perdue DTO, a network led by Leroy Perdue and enforced by lieutenants like Schoolfield.
Schoolfield wasn’t just a courier—he was the public face of the operation, using his local fame as a rapper to glorify and expand the drug ring. His YouTube video for the track ‘Dumb Hard’ brazenly celebrated drug dealing, violence, and street power, functioning as both a recruitment tool and a taunt to authorities. Court documents show he managed a sprawling network of street-level distributors and personally traveled to New York and Baltimore to import wholesale quantities of raw heroin for redistribution in Virginia.
On June 22, 2017, Schoolfield was arrested in Norfolk with more than 800 grams of pure heroin after returning from a New York run—just one of 10 controlled buys made by undercover agents infiltrating the ring through nearly two dozen confidential sources. The Perdue DTO didn’t flinch when they learned their product was killing people; they kept selling, feeding a violent Portsmouth gang and profiting from the misery they spread.
Already convicted and sentenced: Abraham Atkins, 35, Portsmouth, 20 years; Eddie L. Tyson, 46, Portsmouth, 15 years; Edward Muckle, 32, Portsmouth, 9 years; Jamars Cooper, 26, Portsmouth, 11 years; Victoria Waller, 42, Portsmouth, 10 years, 6 months; Dominic Diablo Mosley, 35, Portsmouth, 15 years; Nicholas Godwin, 37, Portsmouth, 12 years, 4 months; Kevin Lawrence, 37, Portsmouth, 13 years; Tywon McKelvy, 42, New York, sentenced March 7; Darion Perdue, 24, Portsmouth, sentenced March 19; Christina James, New York, 5 years.
Leroy Perdue, the alleged ringleader, is set to face trial on May 15. Today’s sentencing, delivered by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson, was announced jointly by Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, FBI Norfolk Chief Martin Culbreth, ICE/HSI’s Michael K. Lamonea, ATF’s Thomas L. Chittum III, Chesapeake Police Chief Kelvin L. Wright, Virginia State Police Superintendent Colonel Gary T. Settle, and Portsmouth Police Chief Tonya D. Chapman. The message is clear: no stage name, no street rep, no network is bulletproof when the feds come calling.
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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