Total of Nine Defendants Face Charges Involving Sales of PCP, Crack Cocaine, and Heroin
WASHINGTON -Nine people have been indicted on federal charges stemming from an ongoing investigation into the trafficking of PCP, crack cocaine and heroin in Southwest Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Thomas L. Chittum III, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
The defendants are charged in four indictments returned in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Six were arrested on March 22, 2018, and the others already were in custody. The drug conspiracy indictment - which charges six people, including two brothers - was unsealed today.
The indictments followed an investigation by ATF and the MPD targeting the area near the King Greenleaf Recreation Center, in the 200 block of N Street SW. The investigation began after authorities noticed an increase in drug sales and violent activity in the area, which is in MPD’s First Police District. According to the government’s evidence, in addition to the area near the recreation center, drug sales took place in various alleys and corners, including near a church in the 1300 block of First Street SW, near a food market in the 1300 block of Half Street SW, and near a convenience store in the 1100 block of South Capitol Street SW.
Six defendants were indicted on March 20, 2018, and charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute more than 100 grams of PCP, heroin, and crack cocaine. They include Antonio Spencer, 24; his brother, Maurice Spencer, 19; Kione Banks, 20; Raymond Boston, 26; Damion Littman, 32, and Davon Warren, 21. All are from Washington, D.C. The charges cover a time period extending from January 2017 through July of 2017. All but Banks were arrested on March 22; Banks already was in custody.
In a separate indictment returned this week and unsealed today, Morriko Washington, 24, of Washington, D.C., is charged with distributing more than 100 grams of PCP on four separate occasions between August 2017 and November of 2017. Washington was arrested March 22.
Jerome Fuller, 33, of Washington, D.C., was arrested on March 12, 2018, on charges of selling PCP and crack cocaine in July and August of 2017. He has pled not guilty to the charges.
The ninth defendant, Mark Jamahl Stephens, 26, also of Washington, D.C., was indicted on Dec. 14, 2017 on charges of possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine and possession of a firearm in connection with his arrest in May 2017. He has been in custody.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by ATF and MPD. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin L. Rosenberg, of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
