Essex Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking Conspiracy and Distribution of Cocaine Base

 Baltimore, Maryland – Quon’te Moore, age 22, of Essex, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy and distribution of cocaine base.   

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Timothy Jones of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, from December 2019 to September 2020, Moore conspired with others to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base and to possess with the intent to distribute those drugs in the area of 2600 block of Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. Specifically, Moore’s drug trafficking organization operated a “drug shop” in the area of 2600 Greenmount Avenue and 400 East Lorraine Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Members of the organization, including Moore, sold cocaine base to two ATF confidential informants on several occasions between December 2019 and September 2020. 

In one instance, an ATF confidential informant purchased two clear vials containing cocaine base from Moore. The informant provided the substance to ATF agents for testing at the Baltimore Drug Analysis Unit, which confirmed the presence of cocaine base.

Moore agrees that is was reasonably foreseeable to him that members of the conspiracy would distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base.  He also agrees that a firearm was possessed as part of and in furtherance of the conspiracy.

Moore and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Moore will be sentenced to 42 months in federal prison.  U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake will schedule the sentencing hearing at a later date.  

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the ATF and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary Stendig, Lindsey McCulley, and Special Assistant United States Attorney Lindsay DeFrancesco, who are prosecuting the case.