NORFOLK, Va. - A Portsmouth man was sentenced today to more than 10 years in prison for conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine.
According to court documents, William Jerome Peele, 45, was part of a massive drug-trafficking operation in Hampton Roads. As part of that conspiracy, Peele personally distributed more than 15 kilograms of cocaine, more than 2 kilograms of crack, and more than 100 grams of heroin. Last year, DEA conducted five controlled purchases of cocaine from Peele, totaling roughly 200 grams. Investigators arrested Peele just before a sixth scheduled buy. He was caught with 90 grams of cocaine, marijuana, $1200 in cash, and four cell phones. He told the investigators that he was planning to “cook" much of that cocaine into crack before police showed up. Police recovered even more cocaine from Peele’s home while executing a search warrant.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, Col. K.L. Wright, Chief of Chesapeake Police, and Angela Greene, Interim Chief of Portsmouth Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Jackson prosecuted the case.
The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Promotional Deceit. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:18-cr-175.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
