Three Emporia Residents Sentenced for Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

RICHMOND, Va. – Three defendants were sentenced yesterday and today to a combined 36 years in prison for participating in a lengthy and extensive drug trafficking conspiracy.

According to court documents, Steve Allen Hicks, 42, Brittany Owens, 28, and Dexter Banks, 30, all of Emporia, Virginia, were members of a drug trafficking organization which operated in Emporia and the surrounding area dating back to at least 2013. During the conspiracy, these defendants along with several other co-conspirators, distributed large amounts of crack cocaine, powder cocaine, heroin and marijuana to hundreds of customers in Southeast Virginia. Owens was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison, Banks to 11 years and 8 months, and Hicks was sentenced today to 15 years in prison. 

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Bulls Eye. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Duffey prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:17-cr-80.