FBI Arrests Seven Alleged Members of DC Fentanyl and PCP Drug Trafficking Conspiracy 

            WASHINGTON – The FBI this morning executed approximately 20 residential search warrants across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Los Angeles, following a year-long investigation into an alleged D.C.-based drug trafficking organization that sold PCP and fentanyl in and around the 2900 block of Knox Place SE, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

            Law enforcement seized 18 firearms including one AR-Style rifle, a shotgun, and one Draco-style pistol. Agents also seized a pill press commonly used to manufacture fentanyl pills, at least two kilograms of suspected narcotics, and over $50,000 in cash.

            Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia indicted eight individuals ­– two from California, one from Baltimore, and five from metropolitan Washington D.C. – and charged them in the conspiracy.

            This morning, the FBI in partnership with the DEA and the Metropolitan Police Department took seven of the indicted defendants into custody. They are Leonard Edwards, 52, of Washington D.C.;  Eric “Marbury” Prather, 43, of Washington D.C.; Thomas Wilton Hancock, Jr., aka “Fresh,” 43, of Baltimore, MD;  Sarda Smith, 36, of Oxen Hill, MD;  Michael Thomas, 49, of Los Angeles, CA; Reginald Lassiter, 39, of Washington, D.C.; and Darryl Riley, 39, Washington, D.C.

           Joining in the announcement were FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Phil Bates, DEA Special Agent in Charge Christopher C. Goumenis, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            One additional defendant remains at large and is considered a fugitive. The indictment against that defendant remains sealed.

            The  Knox Place neighborhood has experienced at least five homicides in the past year, among other violent crimes. The alleged D.C.-based traffickers who operated around Knox Place sourced their narcotics through a Baltimore-based co-conspirator, who in turn was importing narcotics from California. One of the shipments from California included 17-gallons of PCP that was intercepted earlier this year by law enforcement outside of Topeka, Kansas.

            Six of the eight defendants face 10-year mandatory minimum sentences based on the drug quantities for which they were charged. Two of them face 15-year mandatory minimum sentences.

            Federal agents arrested five additional individuals who face an array of charges that include conspiracy to distribute narcotics, felon in possession of firearms, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and illegal re-entry into the country.  

            This case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office with valuable assistance from the DEA and the MPD. It is being prosecuted Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sitara Witanachchi, Matthew W. Kinskey, and John Parron of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

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