Local Man Pleads Guilty to Crack Cocaine Distribution
Baltimore, Maryland – Four Baltimore men, all members of a Baltimore drug trafficking conspiracy pleaded guilty this week to conspiring to distribute crack cocaine.
Tarik Brooks, age 41, pleaded guilty today; Jermaine Epps, age 42, pleaded guilty on April 4, 2017, and Terry Downs, age 24, and Theodore Smith, age 41, pleaded guilty on April 3, 2017.
According to their plea agreements, the defendants were part of a drug distribution conspiracy that operated an open-air drug market near the 600 block of Glenwood Avenue in the Woodbourne-McCabe neighborhood in Baltimore. Members of the conspiracy distributed the organization’s signature orange-top vials of crack cocaine in that location, as well as other locations in Baltimore.
Tarik Brooks was in charge of packaging orange-top vials of crack cocaine for the organization, which were then distributed to street lieutenants who oversaw the street shop and open-air drug market. Law enforcement intercepted text messages in which Brooks discussed the number of vials of crack cocaine that were ready to be distributed.
The guilty pleas and sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office, Commissioner Kevin Davis of the Baltimore Police Department, and Chief Terrence B. Sheridan of the Baltimore County Police Department also participated in the announcement.
Brooks was sentenced to 151 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. This is a result of his guilty plea to conspiring to distribute crack cocaine.
Law enforcement seized over 1,100 orange-top vials of crack cocaine from a stash house on Craig Avenue that was used by the organization. On September 1, 2016, law enforcement seized narcotics from another stash house on Reese Street, including 130 grams of raw heroin, 15 grams of crack cocaine, 36 grams of diluted heroin, and 20 orange-top vials of crack cocaine.
The organization sold large quantities of heroin, and some members routinely carried firearms and committed acts of violence in furtherance of the organization’s activities.
Tarik Brooks is currently serving his sentence at a federal correctional facility. He will be under supervised release for five years after his release from prison.
Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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