Nine people have been indicted after a 14-month-long investigation into a PCP-dealing ring that operated around Columbia Heights, law enforcement officials announced Thursday.
Police said the ring mainly worked around a housing complex known as Garfield Terrace, but sales of the drugs took place throughout the D.C. area.
“Drugs ruin the lives of fathers and mothers, destroy the futures of our children,” U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen said in a statement. “PCP is an especially potent poison that kicks off violent and erratic behavior that threatens our families.”
The investigation by D.C. police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI focused on drug sales in the area of Northwest Washington bounded by Euclid Avenue to the north, Florida Avenue to the south, 11th Street to the west and Sherman Street to the east.
Most of the defendants were picked up Wednesday. D.C. police and DEA investigators executed search warrants at seven locations and seized two firearms, about two ounces of PCP and small amounts of crack cocaine and marijuana.
Six people were indicted by a federal grand jury Friday on a charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute PCP. The indictment was unsealed Thursday.
The defendants include Allen Lee Sheffield, 31; Spencer Eugene Moore, 31, Latrell Brandon Thompson, 21; Raoul Brandon Lawrence, 35; and Tiffany Harris, 28. The sixth suspect, Edwin Cassel Sheffield, was not in custody late Thursday.
If convicted, they face at least 10 years in prison.
Three other men were indicted by the grand jury on charges of distribution of a controlled substance and will be prosecuted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Those defendants are Alexis Santos, 19; Antonio Whitaker, 20; and a third man who has not been arrested.
