NORFOLK, Va. – Former drug supplier Rashad L. Clark pled guilty for his connection in supplying drug dealers in Hampton Roads with heroin and fentanyl.
Federal authorities say the 38-year-old from Elizabethport, New Jersey supplied local ringleader Erskin Dawson Jr. with heroin and fentanyl from September to December 2016, while co-supplier, Kenneth Stuart, aka “Bones,” aka “Brutal,” was incarcerated on state charges.
Clark would smuggle the drugs across state lines from New Jersey to Virginia using stuffed animals, where federal authorities say he would stay to, “oversee operations.”
The operation based out of the Virginia Beach motel, Studios 4 Less, supplied Dawson with thousands of wax baggies containing heroin and fentanyl. The baggies would also feature product names such as, “King of Death,” “Last Call,” “Mad Max,” “Bentley,” “No Evil,” “Black Dynamite,” “Superman,” “Tango Cash,” “Moneybag,” “Tower of Power,” and “Steph Curry.”
Clark’s products were linked to overdoses and deaths of users in Hampton Roads in 2016. He pled guilty to Conspiracy to Manufacture, Distribute, and Possess with Intent to Manufacture and Distribute Heroin, Fentanyl, and Furanyl Fentanyl resulting in death.
Clark has not been sentenced yet, but his co-conspirator Dawson was sentenced to 36 year in prison. Federal authorities say that he faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison, and a maximum of life in prison.
Federal authorities say the DEA in partnership with officers from the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake police departments executed search warrants on motels in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Norfolk, made arrests, and seized guns and over 1,800 wax baggies of heroin and fentanyl.
From September to December 2016 over $70,000 cash was deposited by members of this conspiracy into a Wells Fargo account controlled by Clark, added federal authorities.
Six of the eight co-conspirators have now pleaded guilty, and four have been sentenced. Co-defendants Kenneth Stuart and Carolyn Freeman are scheduled for trial Jan. 17, 2018.
A court day for Clark’s sentencing was not released in the press release by the Justice Department.
Related Links:
Leader of Hampton Roads heroin, fentanyl trafficking ring sentenced to 36 years in prison
Norfolk man pleads guilty in drug trafficking conspiracy that resulted in overdoses, deaths
Fentanyl seized by law enforcement doubled in 2016, DEA says
Virginia Beach HAZMAT team hosts Fentanyl Milling Drill Operation
