| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 12, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal grand jury has indicted Owen Dunn, Wickett D. Morris, Jay Kent, Yusef Sterling, Byron Pratt, and Latoya Fulbright, all of San Francisco, with Distribution of Cocaine Base in the form of Crack Cocaine, announced United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello.
According to the indictments, each of the defendants is alleged to have sold crack cocaine in quantities ranging from 5 grams or more up to 50 grams or more. Dunn, Morris, Sterling and Fulbright are also charged with having sold narcotics within publicly owned housing facilities.
Dunn, Morris, Kent, Sterling and Fullbright were arrested, and made their initial appearances in federal court in San Francisco, yesterday. They are currently being held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals. These defendants are next scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. for detention hearings before the Honorable Edward M. Chen, U.S. Magistrate Judge. Pratt, who was arrested late yesterday evening, made his initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco today.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of Distribution and Possession with Intent to Distribute Crack Cocaine in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1) is from 40 years up to life imprisonment and a fine of $4,000,000. Each of the defendants faces a mandatory minimum statutory penalty of either 5 years, 10 years, or mandatory life imprisonment without release. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
William Frentzen is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of a year long investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Francisco Police Department and its Gang Task Force, Oakland Police Department, Solano County Sheriff’s Department, San Rafael Police Department, San Anselmo Police Department, San Mateo District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Probation Office, and the U.S. Marshals.
Please note, an indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, these defendants must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Further Information:
Case #: Owen Dunn, CR-08-0889 (WHA)
Wickett Morris, CR-08-0887 (MHP)
Yusef Sterling and Latoya Fulbright, CR-08-0886 (JSW)
Jay Kent and Byron Pratt, CR-08-0890 (MMC)
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Jack Gillund at (415) 436-6599 or by email at Jack.Gillund@usdoj.gov.
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