Baltimore, Maryland – Juawan Davis, age 25, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Secretary Robert Green of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.
According to his guilty plea, from 2017 to April 2019, Davis participated in a drug trafficking enterprise (DTO) and self-identified as an “NFL” member. The term “NFL” stands for Normandy, Franklin, and Loudon, which are three adjacent streets that run through the Edmondson Village in Baltimore. Members of NFL have social and familial ties to the Edmondson Village neighborhood in southwest Baltimore. Members of the NFL distributed large quantities of heroin, cocaine base, and fentanyl to drug users and drug redistributors from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In furtherance of the enterprise, NFL members shared narcotics supplies and distributed narcotics on a daily basis, including heroin mixed with fentanyl. Drug customers believed they were purchasing heroin, but in reality, the NFL DTO often altered the heroin with fentanyl or sold fentanyl to customers without any heroin.
As detailed in his plea agreement, intercepted communications identified Davis as a participant in the NFL’s drug trafficking activities. Specifically, Davis obtained heroin and fentanyl in distribution quantities from other NFL members, which he then sold to customers on a regular basis. Davis agrees that it was reasonably foreseeable to him that he and other NFL members distributed over one kilogram of heroin during his participation in the DTO.
Davis also intimidated, threatened, and publicly shammed people who the enterprise thought to be cooperating with law enforcement. For example, on January 11, 2018, Davis posted a photo of a former NFL drug distributor on social media, in which Davis identified the former distributor as a “rat” or a person who cooperated with law enforcement. Similarly, on January 31, 2018, Davis posted discovery information from a state prosecution which identified a witness in the case. Davis made this post to assist an NFL member who was pending trial in that case. The witness later refused to testify in state court and the case was dismissed against the NFL member.
As stated in his plea agreement, on December 20, 2018, an associate of Davis’ contacted him and asked for a handgun. Davis agreed to provide this associate with one of his handguns. Davis then traveled to his Baltimore home and shared a live stream video of himself brandishing a pistol. Shortly after retrieving the pistol from his home, the law enforcement stopped Davis at a nearby gas station where agents searched his car and recovered 40 grams of a heroin fentanyl mix and a pistol loaded with ammunition.
Davis and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Davis will be sentenced to 13 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for May 23, 2022, at 1:00 p.m.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the FBI, DEA, DPSCS, the Montgomery Police Department, and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter J. Martinez and John W. Sippel, who are prosecuting the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-neighborhoods-psnexile.
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