Jevon
Lewis, 31, of Cherry Hill, a.k.a. “V” and “Cool
V,” and Ahmed Judge, 29, of Camden,
a.k.a. “Edy” and “Bleek,” were both arrested yesterday
on arrest warrants following their
Indictment for the Oct. 4, 2001, killing of Kenneth Fussell in connection
with a Continuing
Criminal Enterprise (CCE) allegedly directed by Raymond Morales, who was
arrested in March 2003. The charge makes Lewis and Judge eligible for a federal
death sentence.
“ DEA
is proud to be an integral part of U.S. Attorney Christie’s
Camden coalition dispensing
justice to those undermining progress in this city,” said Acting Special
Agent in Charge Collier. “ As we attack this sad side of Camden, I
would implore prospective employers to look at this strategically located
city and give its good, decent people the two things
they need most: jobs and hope.”
Federal charges have also been brought against 12 defendants who are named
in any of two
Indictments and/or two separate Criminal Complaints. Four other defendants
were previously
arrested and charged federally, and 35 more suspects were arrested on state
charges over the course of the four overlapping investigations. In total,
the four cases have resulted in 51 suspects being charged.
The Indictments and Complaints are offshoots of another long-term investigation
that culminated in the March 8, 2003 arrests and subsequent Indictment of
six defendants, including Morales, 34, of Camden. At the time of those arrests,
agents seized approximately 30 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street
value of $5.85 million.
(The federal defendants’ names, ages and towns of residence, along
with charges and penalties, are broken down by charging document in an addendum to
this news release.)
In January 2005, federal, state, county and local officials announced a cooperative
effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office, DEA, ATF, FBI and U.S. Marshal’s
Service to assist local, county and state law enforcement in their mission
to combat crime in the City of Camden.
“ A year ago, we set out on a mission to bring greater resources to the
fight against drugs and lawlessness in the City of Camden,” Christie said. “We
made it clear then that we wanted to help Camden move out of the national spotlight
as a crime capital and ahead with its future. These prosecutions, others successfully
completed and still others yet to come are the fruits of our combined efforts
to improve Camden.”
The Lewis/Judge Indictment
Count
One of an Indictment returned on Feb. 1, and unsealed with the defendants’ arrests
yesterday, charges Lewis, Judge and five others with conspiring from 1993
until March 8, 2003, with others, including Morales, to distribute and possess
with intent to distribute large amounts of cocaine and crack cocaine. Count
Two charges that Lewis and Judge, while engaging in and furthering the CCE,
intentionally caused the killing of Kenneth Fussell. Count Three charges
that on Oct. 4, 2001, the day of the Fussell murder,
Judge possessed a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun after previously having
been convicted of a felony. Defendants named in this Indictment who were
not already in custody on other charges were arrested yesterday by members
of the law enforcement coalition.
The
Arizona Arrests and Morales Connection
Count
One of a second Indictment, also returned on Feb. 1 and unsealed
with the defendants’
arrests yesterday, charges that beginning in early 2001 and continuing until
March 8, 2003, three
Arizona residents, Edgar Gonzalez-Valenzuela, Jesus Leyva and Laura Rodriguez,
conspired with others, including Morales, to distribute and possess with
intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine. Count Two charges
that on March 8, 2003, Gonzalez-Valenzuela did knowingly and intentionally
distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of
cocaine. All three of those defendants were arrested yesterday in Arizona.
The investigations that resulted in the Indictments were led by the DEA and
the Philadelphia/Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task
Force.
“ I am proud that my office, the Camden Police Department and the Cherry
Hill Police
Department were able to successfully collaborate with the DEA Mobile Enforcement
Team on
this investigation and significant series of arrests,” said Prosecutor
Sarubbi. “The MET team
resources enhanced the ability of county and local investigators to work
alongside federal agents
with single-minded focus, and the results are impressive. The individuals
arrested are charged
with participating in some of the most violent drug trafficking organizations
in the city.”
In addition to the defendants charged in the two Indictments, law enforcement
officials also
announced that the investigative efforts of MET led to the recent arrests
of members of two
separate drug organizations which controlled cocaine sales in two violent
areas of the city.
Ronald
Damon and the “300 Morse Street Crew”
According
to a Complaint unsealed with his arrest on Dec. 5, 2005, Ronald Damon,
37, of
Camden, a.k.a. “Rockmyer,” was the leader of a high profile narcotic
trafficking network known as the “300 Morse Street Crew.” This
organization allegedly controlled the powder and crack cocaine markets in
Camden’s Eastside section. Damon is charged with
one count of distribution and possession with intent to distribute 50 or
more grams of crack cocaine. The organization’s upper level distributors,
Joseph McCray, 42, of Camden, a.k.a. “Darkman” and “Piggy
Joe,” Anthony McFadden, 38, of Camden, a.k.a. “Ant,” and
Brian Dickens, 23, of Camden, a.k.a. “Twan,” were arrested and charged federally over the course of the
one-year investigation.
Additionally,
there were 15 state arrests of other members of the organization. (See
Attached
DEA Chart)
The
Ablett Village Organization
A
second Complaint unsealed with the defendants’ arrests over
this past weekend charges two defendants as a result of MET’s
investigation into drug trafficking in the area of Ablett Village,
a public housing community in Camden’s
Cramer Hill section. Through the investigation, Mark Davis, 28, of Camden,
a.k.a. “Dos” and “Andos,” was
identified as the alleged leader of the Ablett Village drug trafficking organization.
According to the Complaint, Davis and his organization possessed
multiple firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle. Also arrested
and charged in the complaint was Davis’s suspected right-hand
man James Baker, 33, of Camden, a.k.a. “Big Man.” Additionally,
more than 20 state arrests were made during the investigation. (See
Attached DEA Chart)
Davis
is also charged in Count One of the Lewis/Judge Indictment, which also
charges several others with conspiracy to distribute and possess with
intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 grams
or more of crack cocaine.
The MET program was established on the premise that a skilled and trained
team of investigators specializing in the dismantling of violent drug gangs
could be a tremendous resource for state, County and local police confronted
with drug-related crime.
The DEA MET includes law enforcement investigators assigned from ATF, Camden
County Prosecutor’s
Office, Camden County Sheriff's Department, Camden Police Department, Cherry
Hill Police Department, DEA Philadelphia Task Force, New Jersey State Police,
and the
Philadelphia Police Department.
Almost all the defendants are temporarily detained pending bail hearings
that will take place
over the next week. Arraignments on one of the Indictments are scheduled
for Feb. 15 before
U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas.
Despite Indictment or being charged in a criminal complaint, every defendant
is presumed
innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following
a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the
U.S. Constitution and federal law.
Christie credited the Special Agents of the DEA, under the direction of Acting
Special Agent in Charge Brian W. Collier in Newark, and Investigators with
member agencies of the
Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA Task Force, with developing the investigation which
resulted in
today’s Superseding Indictment. The Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA Task
Force is comprised of
the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Districts of New Jersey and Eastern
Pennsylvania, The
Camden County Prosecutor's Office, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office,
DEA, FBI, ATF,
Camden Police Department, New Jersey State Police, Philadelphia Police Department,
New
Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office,
Camden County
Sheriff's Department, Delaware River Port Authority Police and the U.S. Marshal's
Service.
For the two cases indicted, the Government is represented by Assistant U.S.
Attorney Howard Wiener,
of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in Camden. For the two cases
charged by Criminal Complaint, the Government is represented by Assistant
U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson, of the U.S. Attorney's Criminal Division in
Camden.