Dayton Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting an Officer, Conspiracy, Drug and Tax Crimes

DAYTON—Charles D. Warren, 37, of Dayton pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to running his car into a car driven by a federal task force officer trying to arrest him for gun charges after a traffic stop in west Dayton in July 2011. Warren pleaded guilty to all seven counts of an indictment against him charging illegal possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, illegally structuring financial transactions, and interstate travel in furtherance of a drug conspiracy in addition to assaulting an officer.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation Cincinnati Division (FBI), Robert J. Browning, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Darryl Williams, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS) and Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl announced the pleas entered today before U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black.

According to court documents, Warren was wanted on an outstanding illegal gun possession warrant when DPD officers stopped him for a traffic violation on July 7, 2011. Warren fled in his car as members of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force approached the scene. Warren stopped several blocks away. As a task force officer was beginning to exit his vehicle, Warren put his car in reverse and rammed the officer’s vehicle.

Court documents also state that Warren and others trafficked more than 100 kilograms of marijuana from suppliers in California to the Dayton area between 2009 and 2011. The conspirators used several different methods of laundering approximately $1,100,000 of drug proceeds including depositing the cash using other people’s names in order to avoid currency reporting requirements.

Assaulting a federal agent is punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment. Being a felon in possession of a firearm is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Conspiracy to traffick more than 100 kilograms of marijuana carries a statutory punishment of at least 10 years and up to life in prison. Conspiracy to launder money and structuring financial transactions are punishable by up to 20 years and up to 10 years respectively. Possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and interstate travel in support of a drug conspiracy are each punishable by up to five years in prison. Judge Black will schedule a date for sentencing.

Warren has been in custody since his arrest and continues to be held without bond.

One of Warren’s co-defendants in the drug trafficking case, Tramaine L. Norman, 29, of Kettering, pleaded guilty on November 9, 2011 to charges of felon in possession of a firearm, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana—namely, at least 100 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 8.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by the federal and local agencies, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheila Lafferty, who is prosecuting the case.