West Baltimore Gang Leader Sentenced 25 Years For Drug-Trafficking
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Deandre Smith, 28, and Karron Wheeler, 35, both of Baltimore, were sentenced to 12 and 25 years, respectively, for conspiring to sell heroin and fentanyl.
Smith was sentenced Thursday and Wheeler was sentenced September 12.
According to Smith's plea agreement, from at least July 2015 through April 28, 2016, Smith managed a large drug-trafficking organization that supplied heroin and fentanyl to distributors in Baltimore, including Wheeler.
Smith also managed a drug-trafficking operation that operated in and around Pedestal gardens, an apartment complex in the 300 block of McMechan Street in West Baltimore.
Smith had a "stash" house in Catonsville, Md., to store drug and drug money, and to process and package drugs for distribution.
Once the drugs were packed, Smith supplied large amounts of heroin and/or fentanyl to several drug shops in Baltimore, including shops owned by Wheeler.
At Pedestal Gardens, Smith's operation distributed "packs" of heroin and/or fentanyl.
Each "pack" usually contained between 25-50 gel capsules of the drugs and usually totaled at 2.5-5 grams.
According to Smith's plea agreement, a co-conspirator killed two people on October 7, 2015, and August 10, 2016, respectively, to further the Pedestal Gardens drug organization's activities in trafficking.
The organization thought that one of these people was distributing drugs in their territory and that the other was robbing drug dealers in the area and disrupting the organization's drug-trafficking.
Officers executed a search warrant at the stash house in Catonsville on April 28, 2016. Officers found Smith and other conspirators in the home at that time.
During the search, officers found over a kilogram of fentanyl, 575 grams of heroin and nine grams of cocaine. All of this was being packaged to distribute.
Officers also found around two kilograms of Phenacetin, a substance used to "cut" drugs, as well as drug paraphernalia and around $15,465 in cash.
Smith had around $2,000 in his pocket of cash.
According to Wheeler's plea agreement, between March 2015 and August 26, 2016, Wheeler managed a drug organization that operated in several locations in Baltimore, including Pennsylvania Avenue and Laurens Street in West Baltimore.
During the conspiracy, Wheeler employed or directed more than five people. Wheeler admitted that, at his direction, the organization kept a firearm close to the drug shop for protection and to facilitate drug operations.
Smith and Wheeler admitted that during their participation in the conspiracy they and their co-conspirators distributed between one and three kilograms of heroin.
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