Defendants Took Over Residential Apartments to Facilitate Drug-Dealing
WASHINGTON - Two men have been sentenced to prison terms for their roles in an armed narcotics organization that trafficked phencyclidine (PCP) in Southeast Washington. The defendants were arrested in 2013 after a local resident walked into the Seventh District Police station and reported that armed defendants had forcibly taken over his apartment in the Woodberry Village Apartment complex to distribute PCP.
The sentences were announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent H. Cohen, Jr and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Dawayne Brown, 21, and Keith Matthews, 24, both of Washington, D.C., were found guilty in March 2015 following a nine-week jury trial in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia. Brown was found guilty of second-degree burglary while armed with a firearm, possession with intent to distribute PCP, and possession of a firearm. Matthews was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The Honorable Richard J. Leon sentenced the defendants on Sept. 1, 2015. Brown was sentenced to 14 years in prison, to be followed by eight years of supervised release. Matthews was sentenced to a nine-year prison term, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Four others have been convicted or entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing.
Brown, Matthews, and the four other co-defendants were indicted in 2013 following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department of violent distributors of PCP in the Woodberry Village area of Southeast Washington. The investigation revealed that from May 2012 through April 2013, the defendants and fellow 23rd Street crew members (also known as “Little Mexico") worked together to distribute PCP in the Woodberry Village area by taking over apartments from the residents and selling narcotics from the safety of these apartments. The crew members were often armed with firearms, and they sold large amounts of PCP in the local area. The crew members also regularly exposed young children to narcotics and firearms.
The investigation revealed that in January 2013, Brown violently took over the apartment of a resident at gunpoint to facilitate PCP sales, and that Brown used an 11-year-old child to facilitate his drug distribution. Brown and Matthews thereafter took control and used the resident’s apartment against his will, and they stored numerous firearms and bottles of PCP in his apartment. Despite being intimidated and in fear, the resident reported the defendants’ crimes by walking into the Seventh District Station to report that the defendants had taken over his apartment and that they were in possession of a large quantity of PCP and a number of firearms. Police immediately responded to the resident’s apartment and found Brown inside with three loaded firearms, including an Uzi-style firearm with 19 rounds of ammunition, and multiple bottles of PCP.
During the course of the investigation, MPD uncovered numerous other apartments being used by crew members to distribute narcotics and they seized multiple bottles of PCP, more than eight firearms, body armor, and over $3,500 in cash. Since the first arrest of the 23rd Street members in January 2013, more than a dozen 23rd Street drug traffickers, many of whom are known to be violent, have been identified, arrested and charged with narcotics, firearms and/or related criminal conduct.
In announcing the sentences, Acting U.S. Attorney Cohen and Chief Lanier commended the work of the agents, officers and investigators from the Seventh Police District who investigated the case. They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Crystal Barclay, Anthony Griffith, and Theresa Nelson, the Litigation Support Unit; Tanya Via, Debra Cannon, and Wanda Queen of the Victim/Witness Assistance Unit, Criminal Investigators Durand Odom and Nelson Rhone, and former intern Daniella Sterns.
Finally, they acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tejpal S. Chawla and George Eliopoulos, who prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
