FIVE MEMBERS OF COCAINE DISTRIBUTION RING SENTENCED TO LONG PRISON TERMS - Key Conspirator Stripped of Five Properties, More than $425,000 Cash, Jewelry and Guns
CARLOS EDWARD FORD, 32, of Federal Way, Washington, was sentenced today to ten years in prison and five years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine and for being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm. FORD was the regular supplier of multi-kilogram shipments of cocaine to members of a local drug-trafficking group, which included members of the “74 Hoover Crips” and “Marvin Crips.” U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez sentenced a total of five defendants in the case today.
FORD, and the four other defendants are part of 26 defendants arrested in November 2005 following a lengthy investigation of a sophisticated drug distribution ring with local gang ties. FORD forfeited to the government valuable property he acquired with his drug money including three Seattle homes, one home in Kent, and a condo in Federal Way. FORD also forfeited more than $425,000 to the government, including the proceeds from the sale of Queen Anne Laundry Mat which was used as a way to launder drug proceeds. FORD also forfeited valuable jewelry and three handguns seized from his homes during a drug raid.
The other defendants sentenced today: COREY ALLEN BROWN, 33, of Federal Way, who acted as a drug distributor, was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine and Cocaine Base; ANTHONY STEVEN RODGERS, 24, of Federal Way, who acted as a drug distributor, was sentenced to 6 and a half years in prison and five years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine and Cocaine Base; JONAH H. TOPPS, 26, of Seattle, who acted as a drug distributor, was sentenced to two years in prison and five years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine; and HENRY ORLANDO CASTRO, 43, of Seattle, Washington, who assisted in the distribution of cocaine, was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine.
Two other leaders in the drug conspiracy will be sentenced later this month. They include brothers IAN and JASON FUHR, who were a central hub of the conspiracy. This investigation is continuing.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ronald J. Friedman and Richard E. Cohen.
This was an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, providing supplemental federal funding to the federal and state agencies involved. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Seattle Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Department, Washington State Department of Corrections, Des Moines Police Department and U.S. Marshal Service.
For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington, at (206) 553-4110.
