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Feds seek house seizure in cocaine ring bust
Calvert sheriff's office aided in investigation
Friday, Sept. 18, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by JAY FRIESS
U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, right, addresses reporters at a press conference at the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday. Several law enforcement representatives, including Major Andrew Ellis of the Prince George's Police Department, left, gathered to release the names of 12 men indicted as part of an alleged cocaine distribution ring.
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Prosecutors have asked a federal court to order the forfeiture of a Mechanicsville house as part of the punishment for a dozen alleged drug dealers arrested Sept. 10 as part of a four-county law enforcement sting.
However, the owners of the house have not been indicted, and the U.S. Attorney's Office is refusing to discuss their reason for requesting the forfeiture.
Prosecutors and police called a press conference at the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office in Leonardtown on Wednesday to announce a dozen defendants' names, but declined to answer specific questions about the ongoing investigation or search warrants that remain sealed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
The defendants include James Walter Ball (aka "Pooh Ball"), 34, of Great Mills; Glenn "Glenny" Edwin Buckler Jr., 34, of Mechanicsville; Christopher Tyron Brown, 39, of Capitol Heights; Darrell Alphonso Carter, 42, of Abell; Jonathan Latif "Latee" Chase, 35, of California, Md.; Rodney Matthew Estep (aka "Barney Fife"), 33, of Mechanicsville; Nathaniel Christopher "Chris" Ford, 39, of Waldorf; Travis Jamar Mills, 21, of Hollywood, Md.; Anthony "Tony" Levi Taylor, 41, of Lusby; Anthony Maurice Thomas (aka "Mo Somerville"), 49, of Waldorf; Donald Antonio Townsend (aka "Piggus" or "Squeak"), 31, of Bushwood; and Shawne Theodore Whittington, 29, of Waldorf.
They do not include Selina May Holt of Morganza and William I. Jackson Sr. of Lexington Park, owners of the Mechanicsville house listed in the indictment. Nevertheless, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein is pursuing the forfeiture of their house, located on 1.5 acres on Three Notch Road in Mechanicsville and assessed at $445,000.
Rosenstein did not respond to a request for an interview, and his office refused to clarify the relationship of the home's owners to the defendants other than to allege that the house had been used by the cocaine ring for distribution. Under federal law, law enforcement agencies are entitled to seize real property used in drug distribution, regardless of the owner's participation or knowledge of the activity, according to Rosenstein's spokeswoman Marcia Murphy.
Neither Holt nor Jackson could be reached for comment.
The government indictment alleges that between November 2006 and September 2009, the indicted defendants participated in an illegal drug distribution network, possessing 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of cocaine and at least 50 grams (1.7 ounces) of crack cocaine.
A combined force of 200 agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Prince George's County Police and the Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's County sheriff's offices executed 20 search warrants Sept. 10, including a raid of the Heavy Hitters Bar & Grill in Charlotte Hall. They seized the drugs as well as 15 guns, $200,000 in cash and $30,000 in bank accounts, according to Rosenstein.
"It's what I would term a major narcotics investigation," said St. Mary's County Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R). "This investigation will have a significant impact in St. Mary's County."
Cameron would not give an estimate of how much of the county's cocaine market the raid has disrupted, but said the raid was "already having an impact here in St. Mary's County."
Rosenstein declined to identify which of the defendants was the alleged ringleader, stating that he intends to prosecute all defendants equally. Of the 12 defendants, seven were not granted bail, including Ball, Chase, Estep, Ford, Mills and Taylor. The government plans to charge more individuals in the near future, Rosenstein said.
In a Sept. 2 indictment, unsealed this week, Rosenstein asked the court to force the forfeiture under federal law of $1.5 million in sales money allegedly obtained by the drug ring during its operation as well as other assets, including 11 cars, several motorcycles, a race car, jewelry and luxury watches.
"The goal is to seize all the profits," Rosenstein said Wednesday.
DEA Special Agent Ava Cooper-Davis said that the alleged cocaine ring's drugs "will no longer be able to poison our communities. …We're crippling their ability to return and rekindle."
If the court does order the forfeiture of the house and the other assets, Rosenstein said that the property will be turned over to the DEA and distributed among local law enforcement agencies to fund further investigation efforts.
"It's expensive to conduct these investigations," Rosenstein said, noting that officers had given weekends and holidays to run wiretaps and track the cocaine ring members.
When the law enforcement panel at Wednesday's press conference was asked by a television news reporter if legalizing drugs would be cheaper than enforcing the current drug laws, Charles County Sheriff Rex. W. Coffey (D) took the question.
"Certainly none of us have the view that legalization is the [solution] to this," Coffey said.
He asserted that each county's law enforcement agency knows who is selling illegal drugs, but only has the resources to pursue a few at a time. "I'm amazed at the idiots who keep selling this stuff."
