Louisville, KY –Final week a federal jury convicted an area man of conspiring to own with the intent to distribute heroin and marijuana and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The jury discovered him not responsible of utilizing or carrying a firearm throughout and in relation to a drug trafficking crime leading to homicide and of conspiracy to hinder justice-witness tampering.
U.S. Lawyer Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Particular Agent in Cost J. Todd Scott of the DEA Louisville Discipline Division, Particular Agent in Cost Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Discipline Workplace, Particular Agent in Cost R. Shawn Morrow of the ATF Louisville Discipline Division, Particular Agent in Cost Bryant Jackson of the Inside Income Service, Legal Investigation, Cincinnati Discipline Workplace, Particular Agent in Cost Rob Holman of america Secret Service, Chief Erika Shields of the Louisville Metro Police Division, Chief Richard Sanders of the Jeffersontown Police Division, and Commissioner Phillip Burnett, Jr. of the Kentucky State Police made the announcement.
In keeping with court docket paperwork and proof introduced at trial, Charles O. Cater, 47, conspired together with his co-defendants, Javier Rodriguez, and Dwayne Fortress, to own with the intent to distribute one kilogram or extra of heroin and fewer than fifty kilograms of marijuana. Throughout every week and a half of trial, proof of Cater’s involvement within the drug distribution conspiracy was confirmed by way of a number of intercepted cellular phone calls and textual content messages; proof collected from a number of search warrants and enterprise information; video proof; and the testimony of quite a few witnesses. Cater additionally illegally possessed a Sig Sauer, Mannequin P220, .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol after having beforehand being convicted of a felony, together with theft within the first diploma, complicity to kidnapping an grownup, and complicity to illegal imprisonment within the first diploma.
On August 19, 2019, Fortress pled responsible to conspiring to own with the intent to distribute managed substances and to utilizing or carrying a firearm throughout and in relation to a drug trafficking crime leading to homicide. On October 18, 2022, Rodriguez pled responsible to conspiring to own with the intent to distribute managed substances and to utilizing or carrying a firearm throughout and in relation to a drug trafficking crime leading to homicide.
Sentencing for Cater is scheduled for March 22, 2023, in america District Courtroom for the Western District of Kentucky. Sentencing for Rodriguez is scheduled for March 15, 2023. Sentencing for Fortress might be set by additional order of the court docket. All defendants stay in custody pending sentencing. Every defendant faces a compulsory minimal sentence of 10 years and a most of life in jail. There isn’t any parole within the federal system.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mac Shannon and Rob Bonar prosecuted the case with the help of paralegal Adela Alic.
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