The FBI executed approximately 20 residential search warrants this morning in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Los Angeles, following a year-long investigation into an alleged D.C.-based drug trafficking organization that sold PCP and fentanyl in and around the 2900 block of Knox Place SE, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Law enforcement confiscated 18 firearms, including an AR-style rifle, a shotgun, and a Draco-style pistol. Agents also recovered a pill press often used for producing fentanyl tablets, at least two kilograms of suspected narcotics, and more than $50,000 in cash.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia indicted eight people this week, including two from California, one from Baltimore, and five from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, for conspiracy.
The FBI, DEA, and Metropolitan Police Department arrested seven of the charged defendants this morning. Leonard Edwards, 52, of Washington, D.C.; Eric “Marbury” Prather, 43, of Washington, D.C.; Thomas Wilton Hancock, Jr., aka “Fresh,” 43, of Baltimore, MD; Sarda Smith, 36, of Oxen Hill, MD; Michael Thomas, 49, of Los Angeles, CA; Reginald Lassiter, 39, of Washington, D.C.; and Darryl Riley, 39, of Washington, D.C.
FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Phil Bates, DEA Special Agent in Charge Christopher C. Goumenis, and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela A. Smith were among those who made the news.
One more defendant remains at large and is considered a fugitive. The indictment against the defendant remains sealed.
In the past year, the Knox Place area has seen at least five homicides, as well as other violent crimes. The alleged D.C.-based traffickers who operated near Knox Place obtained their narcotics from a Baltimore-based co-conspirator, who in turn imported them from California. One of the shipments from California contained 17 gallons of PCP, which was captured earlier this year by law authorities outside of Topeka, Kansas.
Based on the narcotics quantities charged against them, six of the eight defendants face 10-year mandatory minimum sentences. Two of them are facing 15-year mandatory minimum terms.
Federal authorities detained five more people on accusations ranging from conspiracy to distribute drugs to a felon in possession of firearms, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and unlawful re-entry into the nation.
The FBI Washington Field Office is investigating this matter, with crucial support from the DEA and MPD. Assistant United States Attorneys Sitara Witanachchi, Matthew W. Kinskey, and John Parron of the District of Columbia’s Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section are prosecuting the case.
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