MADISON, WIS. -- John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney
for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced the unsealing of an indictment
charging Charles A. Evans, 40, and Tiana L. Williams, 24, both of Beloit, Wis.,
with participating in a conspiracy to possess and distribute heroin from May to
September 2014.
The indictment was returned on October 29 by a grand jury
sitting in Madison, and was unsealed following the arrest of the defendants in
Beloit yesterday.
The indictment alleges that as part of the conspiracy, Evans
and Williams stored heroin in Williams’ residence in Beloit and distributed
heroin to drug customers in the Beloit area from the residence. The indictment alleges that Evans and
Williams sometimes allowed customers to buy heroin on credit, and that Evans
used violence and the threat of violence to coerce payment of a customer’s drug
debt, by physically assaulting the customer and breaking the customer’s jaw.
The indictment alleges that with respect to Evans, the
amount of heroin involved in the conspiracy attributable to him is 100 grams or
more. In addition to the conspiracy
charge, the indictment charges Evans with four counts and Williams with two
counts of distributing heroin. It also
charges the pair with using a place, namely Williams’ residence in Beloit, for
the purpose of distributing heroin.
If convicted of the conspiracy charge, Evans faces a
mandatory minimum penalty of five years and a maximum penalty of 40 years. Williams faces a maximum penalty of 20 years
in federal prison on the conspiracy charge.
Each distribution count, and the maintaining a drug house count, carries
a maximum penalty of 20 years.
The charges against them are the result of an investigation
by GROC (pronounced gee-rock), a task force formed through the Federal Bureau
of Investigation’s Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative, to address gang and
drug-related violence in Rock County through the coordination of investigations
among local and federal law enforcement agencies. Its members include the FBI; Rock County
Sheriff’s Department; Beloit Police Department; and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives.
The prosecution of this case will be handled by First Assistant
U.S. Attorney Stephen Sinnott.
You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and
that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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