Atlantic County, New Jersey, Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Trafficking Cocaine

CAMDEN, N.J. – An Atlantic City, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for his role in a cocaine distribution conspiracy operating in the Atlantic County, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Kabaka Atiba, a/k/a “Clarence Nixon,” 47, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle to Count 2 of a second superseding indictment charging him with distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Judge Simandle imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

The conspiracy that Atiba participated in involved the trafficking of more than 100 kilograms of cocaine. Atiba and other members of the conspiracy used residences in Pleasantville, New Jersey, and Absecon, New Jersey, to store and package cocaine and crack cocaine.

Atiba was supplied with cocaine by his half-brother, Tozine Tiller, 43, of Absecon, and others, and was personally responsible for distributing in excess of 840 grams of crack cocaine from February 2010 through Dec. 10, 2014. 

In addition to the prison time, Judge Simandle sentenced Atiba to three years of supervised release.

To date, 12 individuals have been charged for their roles in the drug trafficking conspiracy. All of those charged, with the exception of one defendant who remains a fugitive, have been convicted. Five defendants have been sentenced, including Talib Tiller, 45, of Pleasantville, New Jersey, and Tejohn Cooper, 44, of Galloway Township, New Jersey, who were recently sentenced in September 2017 to 57 and 96 months in prison, respectively. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI’s Newark Division, Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark; special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski in Newark; the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Damon Tyner; and the Atlantic City Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief Henry White, with the investigation. 

He also thanked the N.J. State Police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-Homeland Security Investigation (HSI); U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the Ventnor, Northfield and Millville police departments for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Vondra Carrig of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Defense counsel: David Rudenstein Esq., Philadelphia