FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
JULY 6, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CECIL COUNTY DRUG DEALER SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS IN PRISON
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Dequan Sibhe Copeland, age 27, of Elkton today to 14 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine in the Winding Brook community of Elkton, Maryland, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to his guilty plea, Copeland, Tylon Estep and others were videotaped between January 2004 and April 27, 2006 as they conducted drug trafficking activities. Law enforcement officers also seized cocaine and crack cocaine from Copeland. Agents overheard telephone calls to Nigel Humphrey John Baptiste and other codefendants during which Copeland arranged for the purchase, distribution or payment of five to 15 kilograms of cocaine and 1.5 kilograms or more of crack cocaine from Estep and other codefendants.
Nigel Baptiste, age 45, of New Castle, Delaware was convicted on February 21, 2007 by a federal jury of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Tylon Gamal Estep, age 28, of Elkton, pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced on March 16, 2007 to 140 months in prison.
These convictions are the culmination of an investigation by the Cecil County Drug Task Force, which is comprised of detectives from the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office, the Wilmington, Delaware field office of the DEA and the Maryland State Police. The investigation was initiated in response to an outcry by citizens asking for police action to eliminate pervasive open air drug trafficking in the Cecil County community of Winding Brook, which is north of Elkton.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Cecil County Sheriff’s Department, the Maryland State Police, the Elkton Police Department and the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys John F. Purcell, Jr., and Philip S. Jackson, who are prosecuting the case.