FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885  

June 1, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                  

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md                                       

TWO BALTIMORE MEN SENTENCED TO TEN YEARS FOR

DISTRIBUTION OF COCAINE AND CRACK IN EAST BALTIMORE

BALTIMORE, Maryland - David Brown, age 22, of Baltimore was sentenced today to 10 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute crack and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Co-defendant Taki Hughes, age 30, also of Baltimore, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and crack.

According to the statements of fact presented at their guilty pleas earlier this year, from 2004 until July 2005, Hughes and Brown operated a drug shop in which they distributed cocaine and crack at the 1700 block of Crystal Avenue, between Regester and Rutland Avenues, in Baltimore. On February 13, 2004, a police officer observed Hughes as he served drug customers on the 1700 block of Rutland Avenue. Hughes appeared to obtain the drugs from a window frame of an abandoned house on the block. A search of the area around the window frame revealed 14 gray top vials containing crack and 18 gray top vials containing a quantity of cocaine.

On June 22, 2005, a detective observed Brown selling drugs and collecting money from customers at a side window of a vacant house on the 1700 block of Crystal Street. Brown was arrested when he left the house, in which detectives recovered 31 gold top and ten gray top vials of crack with a combined net weight of 6.1 grams.

Law enforcement officers observed Brown and Hughes conducting street sales of cocaine and crack on several other occasions, often using abandoned houses to store the drugs.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Baltimore City Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein praised Assistant U.S. Attorney John Purcell, who prosecuted the case.

This page last modified—June 1, 2006