Supplier of Heroin Intended for Distribution in Maryland Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Taofeeq Ogunlana, age 39, of Chicago, Illinois today to 13 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute heroin.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Commissioner Kevin Davis of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to his plea agreement, from January to July 2015, Ogunlana met with Vladimir Lumelsky and supplied him with bulk quantities of heroin.  Lumelsky would travel from the Baltimore area to the Chicago area, where he and Ogunlana would meet.  Most recently, on July 12, 2015, Ogunlana met with Lumelsky at a hotel and supplied him with more than two kilograms of heroin.  While Lumelsky and a companion were driving back from Chicago to the Baltimore area, they were stopped by law enforcement on Interstate 70 in western Maryland.  Law enforcement seized more than two kilograms of heroin, which was intended to be redistributed to customers in the Baltimore area.

Ogunlana agreed that he and other co-conspirators distributed and possessed with intent to distribute more than three kilograms of heroin during the conspiracy.

Co-defendants Vladimir Lumelsky, age 41, of Pikesville, Maryland; Lawrence Bibbs, age 68, of Baltimore and Rodell Womack, age 49, of Baltimore previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the drug conspiracy.  Lumelsky and Bibbs are scheduled to be sentenced on June 10, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. and May 20, 2016 at 12:30 p.m., respectively.  Judge Motz sentenced Womack to four years in prison on April 11, 2016.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised DEA and the Baltimore City and County Police Departments for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew C. Sullivan and Christopher J. Romano, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.