The U.S. Attorney General for Maryland unsealed a federal indictment Thursday, charging 10 St. Mary’s County residents with charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine and crack during a four-year period.
The indictment also seeks to confiscate $5 million in cash and property from the defendants, if they are found guilty.
The 10 defendants are:
Kevin D. Dyson, 34, of St. Mary’s City; Vanessa Holloman, 29, of St. Mary’s City; Edwin E. Johnson Jr., 31, of Lexington Park; Tavoy K. Summerville, 27, of California; James L. Saunders, 52, of Park Hall; Telvon Taylor, 28, of Lexington Park; Paul Bibeau, 23, of Ridge; William Barnes, 23, of Lexington Park; James Mora, 50, of St. Inigoes; and Terrance Brooks, 23 of Great Mills.
Some of the defendants were arrested Thursday with the St. Mary’s County Bureau of Criminal Investigations assisting federal agents. The group also began appearing in federal court in Greenbelt.
Check back with The Bay Net as more details become available.
In 1996, defendant Dyson was convicted of trafficking 23 grams of crack cocaine after county deputies received information he was traveling in a rental car with a trunk load of crack. Dyson appealed the conviction on the ground that the police did not obtain a search warrant to enter his vehicle looking for drugs.
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals agreed, and overturned the conviction, but the case went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999, which reversed the lower court’s ruling and denied Dyson’s appeal.