Fairhope Drug Dealer Sentenced to 54 Years

MOBILE, AL – A Fairhope man was sentenced to 54 years (648 months) in prison for his participation in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  Darrell Williams, 53, was convicted on both charges by a federal jury in October of 2022.

The evidence at trial showed that Williams was a local drug distributor in an organization whose leaders were distributing cocaine from suppliers in Texas and heroin from a supplier in Birmingham, Alabama.  The trial evidence showed that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) obtained a court-authorized wiretap on two of the local conspirators and identified Williams as one of those regularly receiving controlled substances for distribution in Baldwin County.  During the investigation, agents deciphered a coded reference to an address in Mobile where a two-kilogram shipment of cocaine from Texas was being delivered.  Williams agreed to wait for the delivery of the cocaine and transport it to Baldwin County, where it was going to be packaged for further distribution.  The shipment was intercepted by the FBI and the drugs were seized.

Williams and one of his co-defendants, James Harding, elected to take their cases to a jury trial.  Harding was identified during the trial as the supplier of the heroin distributed through the organization.  The evidence offered against Williams at the trial included recorded phone conversations between him and another conspirator which were obtained through the court-authorized wiretap.  Williams also provided a statement to FBI agents after he had been advised of his constitutional rights.  In this video- and audio-recorded statement, he admitted his involvement in the conspiracy and in the events leading up to the seizure of the two-kilogram shipment of cocaine.  Williams was found guilty on both counts by the trial jury.
     
United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer, who sentenced Harding to 960 months’ imprisonment earlier this month, imposed the 648-month sentence in Williams’ case at the sentencing hearing.  The sentence consisted of a 324-month term for each count, which were ordered to run consecutively to each other.  The judge ordered that the total term of imprisonment, 648 months, will be followed by a five-year term of supervised release.  Williams will undergo testing and treatment for drug abuse.  The judge also imposed a special  condition that the probation office may search Williams’ person or property upon a showing of reasonable suspicion that he is in violation of any of the conditions of his supervision.  No fine was imposed but the judge ordered that Williams pay $200 in special mandatory assessments.

The FBI, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Baldwin County Drug Task Force, the Foley Police Department, the Daphne Police Department, Gulf Shores Police Department and the Bay Minette Police Department, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office all participated in the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria Bedwell prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.