District Woman Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Drug Conspiracy Charges

She and Others Operated Near 7th and O Streets NW, Other Locations

WASHINGTON—Angela Peoples, 41, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to five years in prison for her role in a drug trafficking ring that operated in the Washington, D.C. area, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Peoples pled guilty in January 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine. The Honorable Reggie B. Walton sentenced her on March 30, 2012. Upon completion of her prison term, Peoples will be placed on five years of supervised release. As part of her plea, Peoples agreed to the forfeiture, along with other defendants in the case, of $1 million as proceeds constituting or derived from the drug trafficking activities. Judge Walton recommended that Peoples participate in an intensive drug treatment program while she is in prison.

Peoples was among 17 individuals arrested last year following their indictments in August 2011 on conspiracy and other charges. The indictments followed a nearly three-year investigation by the FBI and MPD into the trafficking of cocaine, cocaine base, and marijuana. The ring’s activities primarily occurred in the area surrounding 7th and O Streets NW and in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Following the return of the indictment, law enforcement officers executed a series of arrest and search warrants in the District of Columbia and Maryland during the early morning hours of August 9, 2011, confiscating approximately one-half kilogram of cocaine, one-quarter kilogram of crack cocaine, and one pound of marijuana. In addition, the officers seized four vehicles, more than $600,000 in cash, and six firearms, including two machine pistols.

As part of her guilty plea, Peoples admitted that she supplied cocaine between January and March of 2011 to Espey Brown, Jr., a leader of the ring. Brown, 37, pled guilty to federal charges in the case in February 2012 and is awaiting sentencing. Peoples admitted that she knew that Brown distributed crack cocaine in the 7th and O Streets area and elsewhere.

This prosecution grew out of a long-term FBI/MPD alliance called the Safe Streets Task Force that targets violent drug trafficking gangs in the District of Columbia. The Safe Streets Initiative is funded in part by the Baltimore Washington High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area as well as the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. The initiative involves more than 150 Safe Streets Task Forces across the country that combat street gangs by combining federal, state, and local police resources. The task forces, which began in 1992 in Los Angeles and the District of Columbia, address gang activity, including drug-related crimes.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director in Charge McJunkin, and Chief Lanier commended the work of the FBI and MPD members of the task force who investigated the case. They also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Park Police, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, and the Prince George’s County Police Department, all of which provided assistance.

They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Legal Assistant Diane Brashears, Program Specialist Kim Hall, and Paralegal Specialist Teesha Tobias. They also thanked the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is assisting in the investigation and prosecution. Finally they expressed appreciation to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth F. Whitted, Emily Scruggs, and Seth Adam Meinero, who are prosecuting the case.