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Press Release

Member of the Jenifer Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland
Jenifer Drug Trafficking Organization Trafficked at Least 750 Kilograms of Cocaine from August 2013 to October 2014, Which Was Intended for Distribution in the Baltimore-Washington Area

Baltimore, Maryland – U. S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced William Hegie, age 54, of Baltimore, to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine, in connection with his participation in the Jenifer drug trafficking organization (Jenifer DTO).

The plea agreement was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Kelly of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; Commissioner Anthony W. Batts of the Baltimore Police Department; and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

According to his plea agreement, from September 2012 to October 2014, the Jenifer DTO supplied Hegie and others with kilogram-quantities of cocaine for distribution in and around the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan areas.  Hegie became a member of the conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.

The Jenifer DTO obtained its cocaine from suppliers in or around Houston, Texas.  The Jenifer DTO would transport money hidden in secret compartments in “courier vehicles” from Baltimore to Houston.  The cocaine was then transported from Houston to Baltimore in the Jenifer DTO’s courier vehicles.  In July 2013, a courier vehicle for the Jenifer DTO was intercepted in Arkansas that contained approximately 23 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a secret compartment.   Between August 2013 and October 2014, approximately 30 shipments of cocaine, concealed in secret compartments in the Jenifer DTO’s courier vehicles, were made to the Jenifer DTO.  On October 9, 2014, approximately 27 kilograms of cocaine were seized from one of the Jenifer DTO’s courier vehicles.

Hegie agreed that he was a member and co-conspirator of the Jenifer DTO, which was responsible for trafficking no less than 750 kilograms of cocaine from Houston to Baltimore from August 2013 to October 2014.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation and Baltimore City and County Police Departments for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys John W. Sippel, Jr. and Scott A. Lemmon, who are prosecuting the case, and expressed his appreciation to the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Texas and the Southern District of New York for their assistance in this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.

Updated May 6, 2015

Topic
Drug Trafficking