SACRAMENTO, CA - United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams announced that Mark Parker, 38, of Vallejo, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. to 30 years in federal prison, a $25,000 fine, and a supervised release term of 10 years. On March 4, 2009, a jury found Parker guilty on all three counts of crack cocaine trafficking.
According to evidence at trial, between 1999 and 2004, Parker oversaw a sophisticated crack cocaine distribution business. On February 9, 2006 when a Vallejo police officer tried to stop a vehicle driven by Parker for excessive speed, Parker fled at a high rate of speed down Fairgrounds Boulevard toward the intersection of Highway 37. As he fled, he ran a red light and smashed into another vehicle. Parker was taken into custody, and officers discovered a large bag of crack cocaine and marijuana in the middle of Fairgrounds Boulevard near Parker’s vehicle.
“Crack" is the street name for a highly addictive form of cocaine base, usually prepared by processing cocaine hyrdrochloride and sodium bicarbonate, and usually appearing in a lumpy, rocklike form.
At sentencing, Judge England said that Parker’s years of distributing crack cocaine into the Vallejo community and his flight from law enforcement were “extremely serious" circumstances and warranted a harsh sentence in the case. The Judge also said that the defendant’s extensive criminal history supported a sentence of 30 years in federal prison.
This case was the product of an extensive investigation by the Vallejo Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Jason Hitt prosecuted the case.
The investigation was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF), which was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.
