Salespeople in a Charlottesville-area drug ring, some of whom deposited the proceeds into a Wachovia Bank account, pleaded guilty to charges Friday in Charlottesville’s federal court.
Authorities said that Keith Aubrey Marks, Tangelia Lashiel Bulluck, Melissa Ann Putnam, Sherri Lynette White and David Anthony Payne were involved in the drug conspiracy between June 2009 and July 2010. Ronald Huber, assistant U.S. attorney, said in court that it is estimated the conspiracy moved 1.5 kilos of crack, more than 100 grams of heroin and some powder cocaine.
Rodney Wayne Barnes and five others were indicted Sept. 22 by a federal grand jury in connection with the drug ring. The indictment said Barnes, who pleaded not guilty to all charges during a Sept. 24 hearing, “developed relations with other drug traffickers” while he was selling drugs.
An unnamed person who had the same Jamaica, N.Y., address as Barnes opened a Wachovia Bank account Dec. 10 in New York, the indictment said, and Marks, White and Payne each deposited proceeds from their drug sales into the account. Bank surveillance cameras showed the unnamed person withdrawing money from that account in New York, the document said.
Detectives from the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement task force and their informants began buying drugs from some of the salespeople in the spring, Huber said in court. After Putnam was arrested on an outstanding warrant from a state court, the prosecutor said in court, she told authorities that she had been selling drugs and sending money orders to Barnes in New York.
Bulluck, who authorities said delivered heroin to a drop-off point in Manassas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. Her attorney, Dana Cormier, said in court that his client will face between five and 40 years in prison, but the prosecution will recommend a sentence closer to the lower end of Bulluck’s sentencing guidelines.
With attorneys by their sides, Marks, Putnam, White and Payne entered guilty pleas to charges of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. Huber said in court that the defendants will face 10 years in prison to life on the conspiracy charge and up to 20 years in prison on the other, but he will recommend each defendant be sentenced toward the low end of the sentencing guidelines.
The five salespeople, all of whom are incarcerated except for Bulluck, are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 10. Barnes is scheduled to have a three-day trial in November.
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