Leader Of Drug Organization Sentenced To Twenty-Five Years

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Christopher Devon Barrett, 28, of Hampton, Va., was sentenced today to twenty-five years in prison, and given five years of supervised release, following his convictions for participating in a continuing criminal enterprise and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Leslie Caldwell, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; Richard W. Myers, Chief of Newport News Police, and Terry L. Sult Hampton Police Chief, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

According to court documents Barrett was a leader and organizer of a drug trafficking organization that obtained cocaine and heroin from local and out of state suppliers for distribution to mid- level distributors on the Virginia peninsula and elsewhere in the Eastern District of Virginia. The drug trafficking organization supplied 150 kilograms or more of cocaine during the conspiracy. Barrett arranging for suppliers and ran the day-to-day affairs of the conspiracy from the Colonial Landing Apartment complex in Hampton, Va., and other locations.  He was the eighteenth defendant convicted and sentenced in connection with this investigation.

The investigative team included the DEA Hampton Post of Duty, Newport News Police Department, the Newport News Sheriff’s Department, the Virginia State Police, and the Hampton Police Division.  Assistant United States Attorney Howard Zlotnick and Trial Attorney Rebecca A. Staton of the Organized Crime and Gang Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.