Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Tyrone Wheatley, age 44, of Rhodesdale, Maryland, today to 135 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Colonel Michael Kundrat, Chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.
According to Wheatley's guilty plea, in July of 2011, Wheatley met with Steven Jordan at a shopping center in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, and agreed to supply cocaine to Jordan in Delaware. Wheatley obtained the cocaine from a source of supply in California and arranged for the cocaine to be hidden in a vehicle, was then hauled from California to in Delaware by a commercial car transporter. Jordan delivered $220,000 in cash to Wheatley in Delaware. Wheatley transported the money through Maryland to Pennsylvania, where it was packaged in a vehicle and transported by commercial hauler to California.
On August 6, 2011, a commercial car hauler delivered a green Monte Carlo with approximately 13 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside, to a shopping center in Delaware. After receiving instructions from Wheatley regarding the arrival of the car hauler, Jordan was arrested the next day as he attempted to take delivery of the vehicle containing the cocaine.
Steven Jordan pleaded guilty to the same charge in U.S. District Court in Delaware and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA, Baltimore County Police Department and the Maryland Transportation Authority Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys James G. Warwick and Peter J. Martinez, who prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
