Member of Two Heroin Organizations That Operated in the Baltimore Area Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Kenya Salik Montgomery, age 40, of Baltimore, to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin. Montgomery previously pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin from two separate indictments.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Maryland-Delaware Division; Assistant Director in Charge James W. McJunkin of the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Washington Field Office; Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, III; Major Michael Kundrat, Senior Commander of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police; Michael A. Pristoop, Chief of the Annapolis Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Chief James Teare, Sr.; Colonel Marcus Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Special Agent in Charge Ava Cooper-Davis of the Drug Enforcement Administration-Washington Field Division; and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

According to her guilty plea, as part of a long term investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into a heroin drug trafficking organization, calls intercepted over Christian Gettis’ phone revealed that the Gettis distributed significant quantities of heroin to others in Baltimore metropolitan area. Kenya Salik Montgomery purchased heroin from Gettis and resold the heroin to her own customers. The drug trafficking organization also used a location that was less than 1,000 feet from a charter school in Baltimore City to process and distribute heroin. The investigation revealed that the conspirators distributed heroin in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, and a housing project in Annapolis.

According to Montgomery’s plea agreement, on May 11, 2010, Gettis received a call from Montgomery and arranged for Montgomery to pick up heroin from him at a clothing store on North Avenue in Baltimore where Gettis worked. Approximately 30 minutes later, FBI agents saw Montgomery drive into the parking lot and enter the store, leave the store a short time later, and drive away. Officers performed a traffic stop of Montgomery’s vehicle a short time later and recovered a small amount of heroin from Montgomery. On June 22, 2010, Gettis received text messages from Montgomery complaining that she was receiving negative feedback from her customers regarding the quality and consistency of heroin she had purchased from Gettis.

In the second case, Montgomery was also overheard discussing drug transactions with a co-conspirator as part of a separate FBI investigation. For example, according to Montgomery’s plea agreement, on February 18, 2011, the co-conspirator called Montgomery and arranged for Montgomery to sell heroin to another individual, to whom the co-conspirator is overheard speaking in the background. On March 1, 2011, Montgomery called the co-conspirator and told him that her customers were satisfied with the quality of heroin she had sold to them, which she had obtained from the co-conspirator.

In each conspiracy, Montgomery admitted that she conspired with others to distribute between one and three kilograms of heroin.

To date, 27 defendants have pleaded guilty to their participation in the Gettis drug trafficking conspiracy. Judge Motz previously sentenced Christian Devlon Gettis a/k/a “Cutty Rock,” “C,” and “Chris,” age 39, of Baltimore, the leader of a heroin distribution organization, to 16 years in prison and sentenced co-defendant and heroin supplier Charles C. Guy, a/k/a “Captain,” “Beloved,” “B,” “Billy,” “Billy Guy,” “Gary Peterson,” and “Damon Lamont Hackett,” age 43, of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, to 17 years in prison, after both pleaded guilty.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and FBI agents in Baltimore, Annapolis, and Washington, D.C.; the Baltimore Police Department; MdTA Police; the Annapolis Police Department; the Anne Arundel County Police Department; the Maryland State Police; FBI agents in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; the DEA; and the Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the searches and the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Ayn B. Ducao and Christopher J. Romano, who prosecuted both of these Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force cases.