A February traffic stop, and the discovery of 11 kilograms of cocaine and a loaded .40 caliber handgun inside a hidden compartment, helped lead officers to a massive cocaine distribution ring in the Washington region, federal court documents say.
Between 2006 and May of this year, federal officials say at least five people in Virginia and Maryland conspired to distribute more than 150 kilograms of cocaine, which has a street value of about $3 million.
So far, three of the defendants have pleaded guilty and two more were indicted Thursday on cocaine trafficking and weapons charges.
According to the indictment, Abdullah Mattocks, 35, of Waldorf, Md., and Alan Marcus Royall, 28, of Clinton, used two rifles and three handguns in their conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
The investigation started Feb. 16 when a woman driving a van owned by Stephen Lamont Booker was pulled over on her way from Greensboro, N.C., to the Washington area, court records said. Inside, police discovered the 11 kilograms of cocaine and the handgun.
Three months later, Booker, who was on probation after being convicted in 1990 for trafficking cocaine through Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C., and Alfreda Christine McLean were pulled over by federal officials in Alexandria. Inside their Infiniti, the officers found two hidden traps, one containing $11,800.
The two suspects later confessed that the traps were used for transporting cocaine and the cash was drug trafficking proceeds, court records said. Both have pleaded guilty and Booker has been sentenced to 27 years in prison, McLean to 11 years.
A third man, Aaron Lefford Evans, later confessed to being Booker’s supplier, who often purchased 20 or more kilograms of cocaine and sold it to Booker and others in the region. For a short period during the two-year cocaine trafficking scheme, Evans’ supplies ran dry, and Booker took over the role as supplier, records say.
Both Evans, who has been sentenced to 27 years in prison, and Booker supplied cocaine to Mattocks and Royall, according to the indictment.
