Member of Drug Ring Exiled to 10 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking in the Latrobe Homes Area of East Baltimore City

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced William Hite, age 42, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute heroin.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Ava Cooper-Davis of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III of the Baltimore Police Department; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.

“DEA and the Baltimore Police Department dismantled a drug trafficking organization that distributed large amounts of heroin throughout the Latrobe Homes community,” stated Ava A. Cooper-Davis, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Washington Division. “This investigation demonstrates the continued commitment by DEA and the Baltimore City Police Department to impact drug trafficking organizations at their highest level.”

According to his plea agreement, from 2008 to March 2011, Hite assisted in the distribution of heroin throughout the Baltimore metro area. Hite brokered heroin transactions between drug ring members and others, and assisted a leader of the drug organization, Dana Bowman, with the distribution of heroin and marijuana, and with collecting the drug proceeds. For example, in May 2010 while Bowman was in jail, law enforcement overheard Hite and Bowman in phone conversations in which Hite was assisting Bowman in keeping the drug distribution organization running.

Hite conspired with others to distribute between one and three kilograms of heroin.

To date, 16 defendants have pleaded guilty to their participation in the drug trafficking conspiracy, including Dana Bowman, age 39, of Baltimore, Maryland, who was sentenced on January 6, 2012 to 151 months in prison.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA, Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in this investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin Block and Special Assistant United States Attorney Christopher M. Mason, a cross-designated Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorney assigned to Exile cases, who prosecuted the case.