FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 5, 2009
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GREENWOOD STREET MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS FOR CRACK COCAINE DISTRIBUTION
BOSTON, MA - A Boston man from the Greenwood Street area in Dorchester was sentenced late Wednesday in federal court to 15 years in prison for crack cocaine distribution.
Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks, Police Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department and Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Boston Field Division, announced today that KELLY SMOAK, age 36, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton to 15 years imprisonment, to be followed by 6 years of supervised release.
On October 7, 2008 (as the jury was being empaneled for trial), SMOAK pled guilty to distributing crack cocaine on four different occasions in the Summer of 2006. At the ensuing plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial, the Government’s evidence would have proven that on four dates between July 14 and July 27, 2008, undercover officers made four purchases of crack cocaine from SMOAK and others working cooperatively with him. All of the undercover buys took place in and around the area of Greenwood Street Area.
During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, the Government advised the Court that SMOAK was well known to area police. According to a sentencing memorandum submitted to the Court, SMOAK had previously been convicted for gun offenses, domestic abuse and drug trafficking.
Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks said, “Residents in the Greenwood Street area should be able to sit in their yards or let their children play outside without fear. The law abiding, decent people in these neighborhoods deserve nothing less. Mr. Smoak’s sentence should serve as a warning to those involved with drug, gun and gang violence, that we will not stand by and let a handful of criminals disrupt the lives and neighborhoods of this community.”
“This sentence shows that being a repeat offender is a losing proposition," said Special Agent in Charge Derr. “Continuing to traffic in drugs only leads in one direction and that's prison. There is no place for career criminals in our neighborhoods,” concluded Derr.
The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Mobile Enforcement Team and the Special Investigations Unit of the Boston Police Department.
It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys of Loucks’ Strike Force Unit.
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