Lengthy Sentences Imposed Against Two Clarksville Men Convicted of Interstate Cocaine Conspiracy
Adrian Dewayne Patterson, 36, and Herman Majors, Jr., 48, both of Clarksville, Tennessee, were sentenced yesterday for their roles in an elaborate interstate drug conspiracy, announced Jerry E. Martin, U. S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Patterson received a sentence of life in prison and Majors was sentenced to 30 years in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge John Nixon. Both men were convicted after a three week jury trial in February 2012.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Patterson operated a drug conspiracy which distributed over 150 kilograms of cocaine in the Clarksville, Tenn. area between January 2004 and December 2006. Patterson obtained the cocaine through several suppliers in Los Angeles and used couriers, including Herman Majors, to take cash to Los Angeles and return to Clarksville with loads of between 8-26 kilograms of cocaine. Once the cocaine arrived in Clarksville, Patterson and other conspirators split the cocaine, cooked portions into crack cocaine, and sold both cocaine and crack.
Evidence and testimony at trial also revealed that cash and cocaine were transported in sophisticated hidden compartments in four vehicles identified during the investigation. The vehicles had been modified in New Jersey and then titled to other people in Tennessee and Kentucky. Three of the vehicles were seized during the investigation, and another one containing over $250,000 cash in a hidden compartment was taken at gunpoint during a robbery in Los Angeles.
On December 31, 2004, Herman Majors was arrested in Oklahoma when he was found to be a passenger in one of the vehicles in route to Clarksville. 26 kilograms of cocaine were found in a hidden compartment in that vehicle.
On January 29, 2009, agents executed a federal search warrant at Adrian Patterson’s residence in Clarksville and seized one of the vehicles with a hidden compartment from his garage.
Several houses in Clarksville were also used by the defendants as safe houses to hold meetings, count cash, cook crack, and hide drugs. A search warrant at one of these houses on December 31, 2006 resulted in the seizure of $300,000 in cash.
Two other co-defendants, John Monzell Banks,42, and Anthony Johnson, 40, both from Clarksville, previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy. Banks was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Johnson is awaiting sentencing.
This investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the Clarksville Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Hal McDonough was responsible for the investigative phase of the case, and AUSA Sunny A.M. Koshy represented the government at trial.
