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Press Release
BGF Associate Arranged for Correctional Officers to Smuggle Contraband into the Jail,
Which He Sold to Other Inmates, Including BGF Members
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Jermaine McFadden, age 25, today to 140 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for participating in a racketeering conspiracy arising from the smuggling of drugs and contraband inside the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC).
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Secretary Gregg Hershberger of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.
This case was developed as a result of the efforts of the Maryland Prison Task Force, formed in 2011 with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors. The Task Force has met regularly for over three years, generating recommendations to reform prison procedures and producing leads that have been pursued by state, local and federal criminal investigators. The investigation is continuing.
According to court documents, BGF has been the dominant gang at the BCDC, and in several connected facilities, including the Baltimore Central Booking Intake Center (BCBIC), the Women’s Detention Center, which houses many men, and in the Jail Industries Building.
According to his plea agreement, McFadden was associated with BGF while incarcerated at BCDC in 2012 to 2013. McFadden arranged with correctional officer Katera Stevenson and another officer for Percocets, cell phones, tobacco, marijuana and other contraband to be brought into BCDC, which he sold to BGF members and other inmates.
Eleven correctional officers, including Katera Stevenson, age 25, have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy, and three have been sentenced to between 32 and 42 months in prison. Three BGF members have pleaded guilty to the racketeering enterprise and two of them were sentenced to between nine years and 151 months in prison.
U.S. Attorney Rosenstein recognized the efforts of the other members of the Maryland Prison Task Force, including: Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department; United States Marshal Johnny Hughes; Special Agent in Charge Karl C. Colder of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; Tom Carr, Director of the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area; and Dave Engel, Executive Director of the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Baltimore Police Department, and Maryland Prison Task Force, for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Robert R. Harding and Ayn B. Ducao, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.