Sexshuns dealer gets prison time in pot conviction

A drug dealer involved in a local marijuana conspiracy will spend more than five years in prison.

Andre Alexander Williams was sentenced Monday in Charlottesville federal court to 68 months in prison and four years of supervised release. Williams is one of eight people who have admitted to being connected to a drug ring led by former local businessman Reynold George Samuels Jr.

Samuels, whom authorities have described as the ringleader of the operation, organized couriers to bring hundreds of pounds of marijuana from New York City to Charlottesville. A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman said Williams sometimes transported the marijuana, but he mostly sold it in the community.

In February, a federal grand jury handed down an indictment charging Williams, Samuels and six others with a variety of drug charges. Federal agents raided Samuels’s apparel store on the Downtown Mall, Sexshuns, around the same time.

Williams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana as part of a plea agreement. The maximum punishment for the charge is life in prison and a $4 million fine.

In court Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald M. Huber said Williams has been cooperative with authorities.

“Mr. Williams was found to be honest and forthright,” Huber said in court. “He provided a good deal of information on this conspiracy about which he was charged. He also is working with the government in providing information in another unrelated investigation.”

Williams’s co-defendants are scheduled to return to court over the next three months for sentencing. Joe Davis Williams III (no relation), Jvon Barnett and Carl Anthony Samuels will be sentenced next month. Reynold Samuels, Penny Alisha Miles and Travis Barnett will be sentenced in January.