News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2008
Three Charged
in Brunswick Area Drug Cases
APR
9 -- Edmund A. Booth, Jr., United
States Attorney for the Southern District
of Georgia, announced today that a federal
grand jury sitting in Savannah returned
two indictments on April 3, 2008 against
three individuals charging them with drug
offenses occurring in Brunswick.
In
the first indictment, Jason Sheffield, age
27, and Tomas Garcia Gutierrez, also known
as “Gamaliel Gutierrez?Menera,” age
36, were charged with conspiracy to possess
with intent to distribute and to distribute
5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 kilograms
or more of marijuana in Glynn and Bryan Counties
within the Southern District of Georgia,
and in Gwinnett County in the Northern District
of Georgia. The penalty for the conspiracy
count (count one) includes imprisonment for
not less than 10 years nor more than life
and a potential fine of up to $4,000,000.00.
In a separate count, the United States seeks
to forfeit any property obtained as a result
of the drug conspiracy and any property used
or intended to be used to facilitate the
conspiracy. This property includes $175,720.00
in United States currency seized on March
5, 2008 which the government alleged in the
indictment that was intended by the defendants
to be used as purchase money for approximately
ten (10) kilograms of cocaine on March 4
and March 5, 2008. Approximately 10 kilograms
of cocaine were seized by agents of the Drug
Enforcement Administration on March 5, 2008
in Gwinnett County. The cocaine was destined
for Glynn County.
The
second indictment charges Rafeal Lateef Baker,
age 33, with two counts of distributing cocaine
hydrochloride and with two counts of distributing
5 grams or more of cocaine base. These latter
charges carry a statutory penalty of not
less than 5 years and not more than 40 years
imprisonment and a fine of up to $2,000,000.00.
Baker faces imprisonment of up to twenty
years on the cocaine hydrochloride charges.
Baker lives in the Brunswick area.
The
majority of the unlawful activity alleged
in the indictments took place in Glynn County.
Booth noted that all three defendants are
scheduled to appear in the United States
District Court in Brunswick on April 10,
2008 for arraignment. Sheffield and Gutierrez
are being held without bail pending trial.
A detention hearing will be held for Baker
on April 10, 2008.
The
arrests and indictment are the culmination
of a joint investigation by the Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Bryan County Sheriff’s
Department, the Glynn County Police Department,
the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the
Brunswick Police Department. Mr. Booth and
Rodney G. Benson, Special Agent- in-Charge
of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, praised
the efforts of all the agencies involved
and stated that “successful investigations
such as these are the result of great cooperation
between federal and state law enforcement
agencies.”
Mr.
Booth stressed that the indictments are only
accusations and are not evidence of guilt.
The defendants are entitled to a fair trial,
in which it will be the government's burden
to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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