Essex County Woman Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine and Methamphetamine

CAMDEN, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, woman was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Selling announced.

Mahogany Hawkins, 32, of Newark, was previously convicted of one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine following a two-day trial before U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, who imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.   

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In March 2021, two FedEx parcels addressed to “John Brown” in Newark, were lawfully intercepted by law enforcement and found to contain cocaine. On March 15, 2021, an undercover officer dressed as a FedEx driver delivered the package to the addressee, and a woman – later identified as Mahogany J. Hawkins – answered the door and accepted the packages. Officers again knocked on Hawkins’s door, this time identifying themselves as law enforcement.  Hawkins said she was “getting dressed” but didn’t open the door. The officers forced entry and found Hawkins in the bedroom.

After obtaining a search warrant, the officers searched Hawkins’ apartment and entered a backroom – locked by a keypad – that was a workstation for packaging narcotics. The two FedEx packages from the controlled delivery were found inside a garbage can in the backroom, and the room also contained methamphetamine pills, two plastic bags containing additional cocaine, numerous empty vials used for packaging narcotics, and a heat sealer. Laboratory analysis confirmed substances were cocaine and methamphetamine. Officers also found a loaded handgun and an extended magazine. 

In addition to the prison term, Judge Bibas sentenced Hawkins to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker; Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Port Director TenaVel Thomas, and members of the Newark Department of Public Safety, under the direction of Director Fritz Fragé, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Cheryl Ortiz, and the FBI - Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca A. Sussman and Jake A. Nasar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Newark.