Judge Sentences Convicted Cocaine Dealer To 20 Years In Prison

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Pittsburgh has been sentenced in federal court to 20 years incarceration and 10 years supervised release on his conviction of violating federal narcotic laws, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Senior United States District Judge Alan N. Bloch imposed the sentence on Andre Allen Williams, 42.

According to information presented to the court, the evidence presented at trial established that Williams, with the assistance of his girlfriend Marquetta Mitchell, brought over $146,000 in cash to a drug deal involving five kilograms of cocaine. Recorded conversations played for the jury showed that this deal was a prelude to another 20-kilogram cocaine deal between Williams and his Mexican-born co-defendants Mario Soto and Emilo Carmona-Cepeda. The evidence also showed that Williams and Mitchell were traveling with Carmona-Cepeda from Pittsburgh to Texas two-and-a-half weeks earlier when police stopped them in Tennessee. The vehicle driven by Carmona-Cepeda was found to have nearly $220,000 hidden inside - mostly within secret compartments in the headliner of the vehicle. Judge Bloch determined that the evidence showed Williams' involvement in a total of 33 kilograms of cocaine. Mitchell, Soto and Carmona-Cepeda are each serving 10 years of incarceration.

At the time of the incidents, Williams was on Federal Supervised Release after serving over 10 years of a prior 211-month federal sentence. Williams was previously convicted in the federal district court in the Northern District of West Virginia of conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver over two kilograms of cocaine, money laundering and possessing a firearm in furtherance of his drug crime. Williams was also violating his Supervised Release by leaving the Pittsburgh area without the permission of his Federal Probation Officer, Tara Kessler. Williams has been previously sanctioned by the court for being found in Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma without permission - sometimes in the company of other felons.

Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Bloch considered the seriousness of the offense, the deterrent effect the sentence would have on others and the need to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant.

Assistant United States Attorney Ross E. Lenhardt prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency as well as local police officers from Coraopolis, Findlay Township, Robinson Township, Canonsburg, Monroeville, Wilkins Township and the 21st Drug Task Force in Tennessee for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Williams.