Crack Cocaine

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton signed into law yesterday a bill to continue punishing crack-cocaine crimes far more severely than powder-cocaine crimes -- a difference that civil rights activists say is racist."

An Eastern Shore man who got out of federal prison in December when his crack cocaine sentence was reduced was sent back to prison this week after being sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for distributing drugs. Prosecutors with the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said Clevon "Ty" Johnson, 38, went back to his old career less than a year after walking out of prison. "Mr. Johnson did not learn the first time he went to prison for a drug conviction and crime does not pay," said Ava Cooper-Davis, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Washington field office.

A member of a Baltimore drug gang was sentenced to 20 years Friday for dealing crack cocaine. Shawn "City" Coleman, 27, bought the drugs in New York City and refined them in a Baltimore hotel, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. He and conspirators sold the crack in Baltimore city and county. Officers found crack cocaine and 60 bags of heroin in August 2007 after stopping a vehicle in which Coleman was a passenger. - Tricia Bishop

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein is warning that a recent revision to the federal sentencing guidelines for crack and powder cocaine possession will lead to the release of hundreds of dangerous criminals onto the streets. But before crying wolf about a new crime wave, he ought to consider federal prosecutors' role in creating what he describes as an impending disaster. The fact is, most of the people currently in prison for drug violations aren't there because they committed violent crimes.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a 31-year-old College Park man to 150 months — more than 12 years — in prison for possessing crack cocaine and intending to distribute it. Josue Monroy, who pleaded guilty to the charges, must also serve five years of supervised probation upon his release, under the terms of the sentence pronounced by U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. The judge noted that Monroy is a "career offender" with two prior drug convictions.

A Glen Burnie man was stopped for not wearing his seat belt while leaving Freetown Village Friday, then was arrested on drug charges after police searched his car.Joseph E. Neuman, 32, of the 7700 block of West Drive was charged with possession of crack cocaine. Police also seized his car, a 1995 Nissan.Police stopped the car just after 9 p.m. The driver gave police permission to search his car, and an officer found a small rock of crack cocaine worth about $20, police said.Pub Date: 2/03/98

Five people were arrested in Brooklyn Park this week on charges of possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, Anne Arundel County police said. Arrested Tuesday, police said, were Ashley King, 18, and Dustin Rhodes, 23, both of Sixth Street in Baltimore. Crack cocaine worth $1,300 was found in the car they were riding in, police said. Police said narcotics officers had been conducting surveillance of the suspects as they traveled between Baltimore and Anne Arundel County. Separately, three men were arrested yesterday morning after county police pulled them over for a traffic violation.

An Annapolis drug squad seized at least $7,000 worth of suspected crack cocaine from the top of a bedroom dresser in a predawn raid yesterday at the Admiral Farragut Apartments in Eastport, city police said.Police barged into the apartment at 200A Boxwood Road at 5:30 a.m. and seized 7 grams of suspected crack cocaine in large "rocks" wrapped in plastic bags; suspected marijuana worth $100; and $4,128, police said. Officers also removed an unloaded handgun, ammunition and a cellular telephone.

A man accused of distributing crack cocaine in Westminster is being held on $50,000 bond at the Carroll County Detention Center after he was arrested at his O'Donnell Heights home in Southeast Baltimore by Westminster police Tuesday night.Westminster police said they obtained an arrest warrant for Robert Lamont Bryant, 19, of the 1200 block of Gregor Way after linking him to a Westminster woman with whom he recently lived.On March 20, Westminster officers raided the woman's residence on West Green Street in Westminster and reported finding a safe containing crack and powder cocaine, two handguns, a sawed-off shotgun and paraphernalia used to weigh and package narcotics.

County police seized crack cocaine and more than $2,200 Monday from a man they found sleeping in an idling car on the parking lot of a Glen Burnie convenience store.Walter E. Markwordt, 57, of the 300 block of Folocroft St. was charged with possession and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. He was released Tuesday on his own recognizance.Police were called to a 7-Eleven store in the 700 block of Greenway Ave. shortly after 10:30 p.m. to check on a man who was sleeping in a 1991 Ford Escort that was idling on the parking lot.When Officer Dwayne K. Johnson asked the man if he was all right, the man said he was waiting for a friend and had dozed off.Officer Johnson asked the man's permission to search the car and found two black plastic containers on the floor behind the driver's seat.

Anne Arundel County Police arrested a Laurel man after they responded to a complaint of suspected sales of illegal narcotics from a room at the Knights Inn on Fort Meade Road Friday. Police officers arriving at the hotel around 10:46 a.m. Sept. 9 saw two people flee from room and stopped a third person as he attempted to flee. The hotel management indicated the room was rented to only one individual and that the person stopped was not supposed to be there. Police searched the room and found a plastic bag containing suspected crack cocaine and suspected marijuana.

Anne Arundel County Police officers on routine patrol in Russett arrested two men and charged them on various counts related to possession of controlled dangerous substances, or CDS, Aug. 8. Officers from the Western District's Police and Community Together, or PACT, unit observed a suspicious occupied vehicle near the intersection of Marcey Creek Road and Accokeek Street. A passenger had a plastic baggy in his lap, which police said was later determined to be filled with suspected crack cocaine.

A man with addresses in the Aberdeen area and The Bronx, N.Y. was sentenced Tuesday in Baltimore to 15 years in prison on federal drug charges. U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg sentenced Jarian Ricks, a/k/a "Bigga Bills," a/k/a "Biggs," 32, of Aberdeen, to 15 years in prison followed by nine years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of...

At Shaffer's Lounge and Sports Bar, a small bar on the fringes of Pigtown with one pool table and a sign above the cash register that reads "Sarcasm: One of the free services I offer," the lone employee heard the gunshots and hit the deck. Outside, a man lay bleeding. The employee's pickup truck parked outside the door was riddled with bullets. Later, one of the detectives asking her questions broke away to take a phone call — "I'm at the OK Corral," he told the person on the other end, she said.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office says it has a suspect in custody after deputies recovered several grams of crack cocaine near a vehicle damaged in a severe accident along U.S. Route 40 Wednesday. A deputy on Route 40 westbound attempted to make a traffic stop on a black 1993 Lexus around 9:15 p.m., according to a release from the sheriff's office, when the vehicle crashed into a barrier, hit a traffic sign and "went airborne" onto the other side of the highway. The Lexus hit a 2006 Honda Accord traveling east with four occupants, police said, and then the suspect fled from his severely damaged vehicle.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a 31-year-old College Park man to 150 months — more than 12 years — in prison for possessing crack cocaine and intending to distribute it. Josue Monroy, who pleaded guilty to the charges, must also serve five years of supervised probation upon his release, under the terms of the sentence pronounced by U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. The judge noted that Monroy is a "career offender" with two prior drug convictions.

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson has spent much of the past two decades drawn to the gritty glamour of life on the streets, and nearly as much time and energy struggling to break free. Critics will see the arrest of the 30-year-old Baltimore actress on Thursday on drug charges as evidence that she's a career criminal — an image that only was heightened by her portrayal of a cold-blooded assassin on HBO's "The Wire. " But Pearson's friends, and there are many, are profoundly saddened by her latest run-in with police.

A 29-year-old Baltimore drug dealer, who sold crack and powder cocaine in the Gilmor Homes public housing complex, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Thursday, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. Robert Campbell, who goes by "Son Son" or "Sonny," acknowledged in his plea agreement that he distributed at least five kilograms of powder cocaine throughout Baltimore from January 2009 through June 2010, and more than 50 grams of crack. tricia.bishop@baltsun.