Five men, including one who led police on a 2013 high speed chase that ended in a crash in Harford County, have all been sentenced in connection with what federal prosecutors say was a multi-state drug distribution conspiracy.
The leader of the ring, Rasan Byrd, 39, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in U.S. District Court in Baltimore last week for his role in moving large amounts of marijuana and cocaine from Arizona into Maryland and other states, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, whose office prosecuted the case.
Byrd, who will also be on five years supervised probation after his release from prison, was sentenced Feb. 19 after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana.He was the fifth member of the ring to be sentenced.
The dismantling of the drug ring began when, after extensive surveillance, law enforcement executed warrants on April 22, 2013, at the homes of two Baltimore men and a commercial building in the 5800 block of Moravia Road in Baltimore, where Jerome Adolfo Castle was conducting counter-surveillance during a marijuana delivery, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.
Castle fled in a pickup truck and was pursued by police east to Harford County at speeds exceeding 100 mph, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
According to the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, one of several law enforcement agencies that became involved in the chase, the driver of the pickup drove on I-895 and then I-95, exited onto Route 152 in Joppa and then drove east for two miles on Route 7, where the pickup crashed into a car and another pickup that were parked in front of Edgewood Liquors at the intersection with Route 755.
The suspect then tried to get away on foot but was apprehended "almost immediately," an MdTA Police spokesperson said at the time.
No one was injured, including the suspect. The only damage reported was to the two parked cars. Photographs from the scene showed several police agencies had become involved in the chase by the time it ended. The pickup had flipped over on its roof and came to rest in the road.
Castle was never publicly identified at the time of the incident. He was taken into custody and booked at the Harford County Detention Center, according to jail intake logs, with a detainer form Baltimore. That is all police ever said about him.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Castle, also known as Dontwon Burris, 37, a Jamaican citizen residing in Pikesville, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Castle was also ordered to forfeit $57,997 in cash, his interest in seven Baltimore properties, jewelry valued at more than $411,000, 98 pairs of men's shoes, two laptop computers and an iPad, seven firearms and ammunition, as well as six vehicles, including a 2009 Jaguar XF Premium, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
In addition to Rasan Byrd and Castle, brothers Harold Alexander Byrd, 27, of Phoenix, and Joseph Ibreham Byrd, 35, of Owings Mills, also previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Maurice Jones, 60, of Baltimore, also pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
According to his plea agreement and court documents, Rasan Byrd supervised the Arizona-based activities of the conspiracy in which large quantities of cocaine and marijuana were obtained in Arizona and shipped to Maryland.
Law enforcement seized 10 kilograms of cocaine from the residences of Josef and Harold Byrd; and approximately 350 pounds of marijuana shipped by Rasan Byrd from Arizona that had just been delivered to the commercial building, when the police chase involving Castle ensued.
In Arizona, more than 500 pounds of marijuana and 16 kilograms of cocaine were seized. Between 2009 and April 22, 2013, approximately 88 shipments containing cocaine and marijuana were sent under the supervision of Rasan Byrd and others to the commercial building in Baltimore, prosecutors said.