BALTIMORE — The leader of a large scale drug distribution conspiracy is set to face time behind bars.
On October 22, 41-year-old Gibran Nelson-Smith, of Pikesville was sentenced to 19 Years in Federal Prison followed by four years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin, and crack cocaine, as well as quantities of cocaine and fentanyl.
According to his plea agreement, Nelson-Smith conspired with others to distribute large quantities of heroin and crack cocaine, as well as cocaine and fentanyl, in and around Baltimore for almost four years between 2015 and March 2019. Nelson-Smith exercised a supervisory role in the conspiracy, meeting with co-conspirators to provide the narcotics and resupplying the narcotics throughout the day. Nelson-Smith also collected the drug money from the distributors.
On at least one occasion between November 2018 and February 2019, law enforcement conducted several controlled purchases from Nelson-Smith. On at least one occasion, law enforcement thought Nelson-Smith was selling heroin, but the lab results indicated that the drugs were a combination of heroin and fentanyl.
As part of his plea agreement, Nelson-Smith admitted that he endorsed the use of firearms by members of the organization to maintain security in the areas where drugs were being sold, and also endorsed the use or threatened use of violence by members of the organization to protect the drug sales activities of the organization. In January 2019, law enforcement received surveillance footage dated May 25, 2018, in which Nelson-Smith appears to brandish a firearm in the alley next to the “White House” located in the 3900 block of Dorchester Road in Baltimore, where Nelson-Smith operated.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Nelson-Smith’s residence on April 4, 2019, and recovered numerous firearms as well as drug paraphernalia. Nelson-Smith agrees that over the course of the conspiracy, he along with those who helped him distributed at least a kilogram of heroin, crack cocaine, at least 250 grams of cocaine, and at least 10 grams of fentanyl.