Resident Of Harrisburg And New York Convicted Of Conspiracy To Distribute Cocaine

     The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a federal jury in Harrisburg returned a verdict today finding a New York man guilty of conspiracy to traffic drugs and trafficking drugs.

     According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Maurice Henderson, 33, who resided in both New York and Harrisburg, was convicted of criminal conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms and more of cocaine hydrochloride and 280 grams or more of crack cocaine and distribution and possession with intent to distribute the same drugs.  The jury found him not guilty of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.  The verdict was returned following a week-long jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones, III.

     Evidence presented during trial established that Henderson sold crack cocaine to an individual working with the Dauphin County Drug Task Force twice and also sold crack cocaine to an undercover police officer on two occasions.  Witnesses testified that over a two-year period, Henderson and his co-conspirators made frequent trips from Harrisburg to a neighborhood in New York to purchase multiple kilogram quantities of cocaine hydrochloride, using rental cars and drivers to make the trips. Upon their return to Harrisburg, members of the conspiracy cooked the bulk of the cocaine hydrochloride into “crack” cocaine, weighed it, packaged it into smaller quantities and distributed to drug dealers in the Harrisburg area.   

     Co-conspirators Juval Green, 34, Robert Reynoso, 35, Derrice Sassaman, 39, and Annalyn Black, 26, all previously pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking conspiracy and are awaiting sentencing.  Prior to jury selection in Henderson’s case, the government filed a notice stating that because Henderson has at least two prior felony drug convictions, he is subject a mandatory 20 years’ imprisonment.

     The investigation that led to Henderson’s arrest and conviction was part of a larger investigation targeting crack cocaine dealing in the 14th and Swatara Street area in Harrisburg.

     The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Dauphin County Criminal Investigative Division, the Dauphin County Drug Task Force, Lower Paxton Township Police, Susquehanna Township Police, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, Pennsylvania State Police, and Harrisburg Police.  It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy H. Fawcett.