Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr., sentenced Shennard Owens, age 22, of Baltimore, today to 12 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute heroin.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy; Special Agent in Charge Theresa R. Stoop of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.

According to Owens’ plea agreement, from November 2008 to January 2009, Owens agreed to receive and distribute heroin through other members of a drug organization. The “T-Pain” heroin shop controlled a five block radius in the Central District of Baltimore. The shop sold approximately 20 to 35 packs of heroin daily. Each pack contained 50 gelatin capsules of heroin. The operation sold at least 100 grams of heroin daily for three months, operating seven days a week. During the course of the conspiracy, law enforcement overheard Owens arranging transactions involving the street level distribution of heroin on numerous intercepted telephone calls. Owens admits that he and others conspired to distribute between 3 and 10 kilograms of heroin.

Juan Hill, age 19, and Tremayne Jones, age 29, both of Baltimore, previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and were sentenced in December 2009, to 108 months and 121 months in prison, respectively. PDL Bloods member Derrick Truesdale, age 34, of Baltimore, was sentenced to 262 months in prison, for racketeering conspiracy related to his drug dealing with and to other PDL Bloods members, as well as his participation in the T-Pain heroin distribution conspiracy.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended Special Assistant United States Attorney Christine Celeste, a cross-designated Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorney assigned to EXILE cases, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kwame J. Manley, who prosecuted the case and thanked Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorneys Stacie Pipkin and Brandis Marsh, for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution.