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Court rejects heroin ring leader's appeal
ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: September 27, 2013
The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently affirmed the judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in a heroin distribution conspiracy in Cleveland that was run by Christopher Ugochukwu, a Nigerian national.
Ugochukwu was arrested along with 23 others on various drug trafficking charges.
At trial, a jury convicted him of drug conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute heroin and using a telephone to facilitate a drug trafficking felony.
The district court applied a four-level enhancement to his offense because Ugochukwu was an organizer and leader of the conspiracy.
He was sentenced to a total of 320 months in prison.
According to the facts and procedural history of the case, criminal investigation of the drug conspiracy began in January 2009 and lasted through July 2012.
Law enforcement officials initially focused on the drug trafficking activities of Christopher Sapp, who distributed heroin in Cleveland obtained from a source in Chicago.
When his Chicago source dried up, Sapp began purchasing heroin from Cleveland distributors Richard Lanier and Bryant Johnson, whose drug source was Ugochukwu.
Lanier and Johnson, through their close associates, John Dukes and Eric Rosser, supplied Sapp and other distributors with kilos of heroin that they obtained from Ugochukwu.
To investigate the scope of the conspiracy, agents used various techniques that included GPS devices, surveillance and wiretaps on cell phones and landlines.
Intercepted phone calls confirmed that Ugochukwu was supplying Lanier and Johnson with large amounts of heroin.
During the calls, Lanier was recorded discussing the quality of the heroin as well as his efforts to pay Ugochukwu hundreds of thousands of dollars for heroin that was “fronted” to him.
On May 24, 2010, a series of phone calls between Lanier and Ugochukwu were intercepted during which they arranged a meeting for the next day.
That next day surveillance crews watched as Ugochukwu drove to one of Lanier’s residences, entered briefly, and then left carrying a large bag containing $300,000 in cash.
In late July 2012, agents conducted a series of searches and arrests to take down the drug organization, the first of which took place at one of Lanier’s residences.
The agents seized heroin, currency, a money counter, a triple-beam scale, drug ledgers and evidence of heroin processing.
Another search of Lanier’s “stash house” at a different location revealed substantial amounts of heroin and evidence of drug cutting and packaging.
Lanier’s sister-in-law’s house, where he kept his safe, was also searched and police found $1.2 million.
Johnson was arrested after he took a large amount of heroin to a stash house at yet another location.
A search there also revealed heroin, cutting agents, scales, sealing devices and packaging materials indicative of heroin processing.
After executing the initial search warrants, the agents traveled to Ugochukwu’s house to arrest him on a federal warrant.
When no one answered the door, officers broke it down and found Ugochukwu in the kitchen, alone.
A subsequent search of the home revealed money, a money counter, a scale, a kilo press, a blender, a food sealer, cutting agents, packaging materials and receipts of nearly $100,000 in money orders.
Officers also found heroin in finger form, suggesting that it had arrived recently by body courier from overseas.
When the case went to trial, the district court denied Ugochukwu’s motion to suppress the evidence seized from his apartment and following his conviction, the court ordered a pre-sentence investigation report.
The report recommended a base offense level of 36 based on the drug quantity involved.
A four-level enhancement was applied over the defense’s objection for Ugochukwu’s role as a leader in the distribution scheme.
Ugochukwu’s advisory guidelines sentencing range came to 292 to 365 months imprisonment.
He was ultimately sentenced to 320 months on two counts and 48 months, to run concurrently, on a third count.
Upon appeal, Ugochukwu challenged the four-level adjustment in his offense level for his role in the conspiracy.
“The enhancement is permitted where the defendant was an organizer or leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive,” wrote Judge Jane Stranch for the court.
Ugochukwu characterized his conduct as merely “fronting drugs to multiple individuals” without exercising any subsequent control over the distribution of the drugs.
However, the court rejected the argument that the relationship between Ugochukwu and Lanier was simply a buyer-seller relationship.
“The court’s decision rested on findings that the defendant initiated the drug conspiracy by approaching Lanier to sell drugs; the defendant alone planned, organized, and controlled the means and price of supply; the defendant directly supervised Lanier and Johnson; and Lanier, Johnson and Sapp utilized the services of more than 18 other co-conspirators to distribute heroin in Cleveland,” wrote Judge Stranch.
In the appellate panel’s opinion, the evidence clearly supported the district court’s determination that Ugochukwu was an organizer and leader of extensive criminal activity.
In addition, the court rejected Ugochukwu’s claim that the evidence seized from his apartment was insufficient to warrant an arrest.
It sided with the district court when it ruled that the motion to suppress the evidence was properly overruled.
Judge Stranch concluded by affirming Ugochukwu’s conviction and sentence.
She was joined by judges Guy Cole and Raymond Kethledge.
The case is cited United States v. Ugochukwu, Case No. 11-3976/13-3062.
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