Sonar Club Owner Who Helped Supervise A Baltimore Drug Organization Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison

Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Daniel Gerard McIntosh, age 38, of Sparks, Maryland today to 10 years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute between 100 and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, conspiring to engage in money laundering and interstate travel to further drug trafficking activities.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Karl C. Colder of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Kelly of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to evidence presented at his seven week trial, McIntosh was part of an extensive drug trafficking operation which was discovered by the DEA when they executed a search warrant at a residence in the 3500 block of Hickory Avenue in Baltimore. The residence was a center of operation for the group. Agents seized more than 80 pounds of marijuana, $30,000 in cash, 30 cell phones, documents regarding a plane purchased for $450,000 by other co-conspirators, tally sheets showing over $14.5 million in marijuana sales, four money counters and false identifications.

Trial testimony established that from at least 2006, McIntosh received large shipments of marijuana and distributed them to local dealers in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

According to trial testimony, in June 2008 McIntosh recruited Philip Parker to pick up marijuana in California and transport the marijuana to Maryland in Parker’s tractor trailer. McIntosh directed Parker to make multiple trips to California. One witness estimated that between September and December 2008, Parker made two trips a month, with loads ranging from 300-600 pounds of marijuana. On one occasion, McIntosh asked a co-conspirator to deliver
$1 million to Parker to transport to California to pay for the marijuana.

From 2006 to early 2008, McIntosh used another individual to deliver hundreds of pounds of marijuana to his customers and to collect their payments.

McIntosh also furthered the drug organization’s business through money laundering. According to trial testimony, McIntosh was the manager, and as of June 2007, the majority owner of the Sonar Club in Baltimore. During the previous year, the business had lost $400,000. Once McIntosh took over the business, the leader of the drug organization became a silent partner who funded the business, which continued to lose thousands of dollars each year. McIntosh also provided employment verification for a co-conspirator who was on parole in 2008.

A total of 12 defendants have been convicted in this case, and sentenced to up to 121 months in prison.

Charges are still pending against the alleged leaders of the organization, David D’Amico, age 49, of Baltimore, Matthew Nicka, age 43, of Baltimore and his wife, Gretchen Peterson, age 34, of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, all of whom were fugitives since the indictment was returned in December 2010. Nicka and Peterson were arrested in Canada in early August 2013, and D’Amico is pending extradition from Colombia, South America.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the DEA, IRS-CI and the Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Deborah A. Johnston and Mara Zusman Greenberg, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.