District Man Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Prison Following Drug Trafficking Investigation

            WASHINGTON – Mustafah Muhammad, 29, formerly of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison for his role in a drug trafficking ring that operated out of Washington, D.C., and extended into Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent H. Cohen, Jr.

            Muhammad pled guilty in April 2014, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to a charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. He was sentenced on July 22, 2015, by the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan.  Following his prison term, Muhammad will be placed on five years of supervised release. As part of his guilty plea, Muhammad agreed to the forfeiture of $57,000 as proceeds constituting or derived from his illegal drug trafficking activities. 

            Muhammad was among 16 people who were arrested and charged in November and December of 2012 with conspiracy and other related offenses; the others also pled guilty. The indictments followed an investigation by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and the Prince George’s County, Md., Police Department into heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana trafficking.  The drug ring’s activities primarily occurred in and around the 1400 block of Euclid Street NW and the 700 block of Kenyon Street NW in Washington D.C., as well as in Arlington, Va., and Bethany Beach, Del.  

            In his guilty plea, Muhammad admitted that between February 2012 and November 2012 he engaged in the drug conspiracy. He also admitted that during the conspiracy he and other conspirators used a residence located in the 1600 block of Fuller Street NW to store or hide illegal drugs, including 31-gram and 62-gram quantities of crack cocaine, for redistribution to others.  He further admitted that during the conspiracy he travelled from the District of Columbia to Delaware to take heroin and crack cocaine to customers living there.

            In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Cohen commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, MPD, and the Prince George’s County, Md., Police Department. He also expressed appreciation for the support of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. In addition, he cited the efforts of those who prosecuted and worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth Whitted and Philip A. Selden, of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Arvind Lal and Zia Faruqui, of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. He also commended Paralegal Specialists Teesha Tobias, Catherine O’Neal, and Kim Hall, and Legal Assistant Diane Brashears and Candice Sisco for their assistance.