METROPOLIS MEN INDICTED ON
CRACK COCAINE DISTRIBUTION CHARGES

A. Courtney Cox, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on April 7, 2009, SOLOMON WYATT, 28, and MICHAEL TYSON, 51, both of Metropolis, Illinois, were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury sitting in Benton, Illinois, in an indictment charging TYSON with two counts of Distribution of Crack Cocaine, and WYATT with one count of Distribution of Crack Cocaine. The violations are alleged to have taken place in Metropolis, Massac County, Illinois.

An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, each defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.

If convicted, each defendant faces a potential sentence of 20 years imprisonment, a 1 million dollar fine and up to 3 years of supervised release on each count.

This case was investigated by the Illinois State Police, the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Michael C. Carr for prosecution.