Crime Correspondent

John Henry Sutton was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine

John Henry Sutton was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine

John Henry Sutton was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine.John Henry Sutton ple...

Duc Vi Huynh, a Canadian citizen, was sentenced yesterday in federal court on charges that he distributed more than 200,000 Ecstasy pills

Duc Vi Huynh, a Canadian citizen, was sentenced yesterday in federal court on charges that he distributed more than 200,000 Ecstasy pills in the Houston area. Authorities believe Huynh took part in a ring that distributed Ecstasy all over the southern U. S. Huynh was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 3,4 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly called Ecstasy or MDMA, with a sentence of 240 months confinement in a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility without parole. Huynh pleaded guilty to the federal drug trafficking offense in November 2008. He has been in custody since his arrest by FBI agents and the Houston Police Department (HPD) officer who jointly investigated the case.In July 2007, acting on a tip from a cooperating witness, FBI agents and HPD officers of the FBI-HPD Asian Organized Crime Task Force stopped a car driven by Khoa Tuan Nguyen and Anh Biet Ngo and discovered approximately 22,000 Ecstasy/MDMA pills. After determining that additional contraband was likely to be hidden in a nearby associated townhouse, agents and officers established surveillance of the townhouse. Numerous people were seen entering and/or leaving the townhouse with suspicious packages. Each person departing the townhouse with a suspicious package was stopped by HPD patrol officers. Each stop resulted in additional arrests as additional amounts of Ecstasy/MDMA were discovered and seized. During that one month, agents recovered approximately 117,000 MDMA pills as part of their task force effort and Huynh was subsequently identified as the person who provided all of the Ecstasy/MDMA pills, which came from Canada, that were intercepted by law enforcement in July 2007.<br /> Shortly after the July 2007 enforcement action, through yet another source of information, Huynh was contacted by telephone to discuss the purchase of an additional 150,000 Ecstasy/MDMA pills for $375,000.00. Huynh agreed to the deal and traveled to Huntsville, Texas on Dec. 21, 2007 for the transaction with an undercover FBI agent. During the meeting, Huynh explained to the agent that the pills were being transported by third parties unknown to him and that he could communicate with them only by calling a telephone number in Canada that was answered by yet another person who acted as a "cutout" to protect the MDMA load and all concerned parties from law enforcement detection. The Ecstasy/MDMA pills never materialized for this deal. Huynh subsequently explained to the agent that the drivers were "sick," meaning had been arrested in another state. Through further investigation, the FBI later learned that Tennessee law enforcement officers had intercepted a vehicle bearing approximately 250,000 MDMA pills during the relevant time-frame. FBI agents believed the intercepted shipment was intended, in part, to fill the order placed by the undercover agent. Through his conversation with the agent, Huynh clearly implicated himself in the conspiracy to supply the MDMA pills intercepted by the FBI in July 2007 and was later arrested.To date, the following seven additional co-conspirators have been charged, convicted and sentenced as a result of the investigation leading to the arrest of Huynh: Dung Hoang Nguyen (156 months), Hoang-Nam Nguyen (68 months), An Biet Ngo (70 months), Toan Bao Nguyen (60 months), Khoa Tuan Nguyen (65 months), Son Anh Nguyen (46 months) and Toan Huu Pham (12 months). Thuc Tri Phan jumped bond after pleading guilty in connection with this conspiracy and remains a fugitive. A warrant remains outstanding for his arrest.  All seven are U. S. citizens.The FBI-HPD Asian Organized Crime Task Force is part of an ongoing multi-agency approach to identifying, infiltrating and prosecuting organized crime in the Houston area. Assistant U. S. Attorneys Mark W. White III and Joseph Magliolo are handling the prosecution of these cases.

Duc Vi Huynh, a Canadian citizen, was sentenced yesterday in federal court on charges that he distributed more than 200,000 Ecstasy pills

Duc Vi Huynh, a Canadian citizen, was sentenced yesterday in federal court on charges that he distributed more than 200,000 Ecstasy pills in...

John Wallas the "controlling mind" at the heart of a planned and organised commercial enterprise in drugs

John Wallas the "controlling mind" at the heart of a planned and organised commercial enterprise in drugs.The 29-year-old, of Knebworth Court, Ingleby Barwick, was jailed for eight years at Teesside Crown Court.Officers found drugs worth between £71,000 and £299,000 when they raided a flat he rented on Hadleigh Walk, Ingleby Barwick.They discovered more than four kilos of amphetamine with a maximum street value of £260,000 and cocaine worth a maximum of £39,130.More than 25kg of bulking agents were found along with a cocaine-flecked mixing bowl and other evidence of cocaine production, such as gas masks.The judge told Teesside Crown Court yesterday how Wallas drew others into the drugs plot, including his younger brother Mark and cousin Craig Francis.Mark Wallas, 25, was sent to prison for three years. The judge said he played a limited but important and necessary role in drugs distribution.The police stopped him driving on the A689 towards Hartlepool on the afternoon of October 30 last year, said prosecutor Christopher Attwooll.<br />A bag containing £38,260 cash was found in the passenger seat footwell of the Volkswagen Passat. Wallas had keys to the flat on Hadleigh Walk.The Wallas brothers, who had no previous convictions, both admitted conspiring to supply cocaine. Mark Wallas also admitted possessing criminal property - the cash.Francis, 26, was the only one of five men not to be sent away.At his home on Victoria Road, Thornaby on November 20, police found digital scales and a metal safe carrying cocaine traces, and almost half a kilo of mixing agents.He paid for an order for 50kg of cutting agents which were delivered to Mark Wallas' home on Trent Avenue, Thornaby.<br />The judge said he played a very limited role and gave him a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years with 200 hours' unpaid work.David Breeze, 25, of The Birches, Middlesbrough, received a two-year prison term after he was "heavily involved" in amphetamine production.And Lee Cope, 24, of Marton Road, Middlesbrough, was locked up for 25 months. The judge said he was "lawless and feckless" and took a "depressingly casual" attitude to preparing the Class B drug.All five men admitted conspiracy to supply amphetamine in October and November last year. Francis also admitted cocaine possession.Police kept the men under observation and listened to telephone conversations in John Wallas' BMW with references to drugs supply and amphetamine production.The investigation was part of 'Operation Kiev', a long-running covert operation by the Cleveland Police Organised Crime Unit which led to another drugs gang being locked up for 22 years in April.Defence barristers tried to argue that the kilos of low-purity illegal narcotics were "very small quantities".<br />They said the men acted out of character and showed regret and remorse for being involved in areas of the "despicable enterprise" for a short time, often due to personal and financial difficulties.Kevin Metzger, defending John Wallas, said: "This was an aberration in what was otherwise an exemplary life."John Hurlock, representing, Mark Wallas, said the educated ex-RAF man and charity worker ran an errand for his brother: "He's lost everything that mattered to him as a result of that temporary loss of sense."Francis' counsel Andrew Turton said the former care home worker innocently stored items at his home as a favour, thinking the chemicals were for body-building.Now the men face having cash and assets stripped from them as proceeds of crime.Detective Chief Inspector Rob Donaghy, head of serious and organised crime in Cleveland Police, said today: "This was a well-organised drug manufacturing and distribution outfit making significant amounts of money."The sentences passed send out a strong message to those involved in dealing drugs on the streets of Teesside that we will not tolerate it."A team of detectives worked over a significant period of time to painstakingly piece together the evidence."We are relentless in our pursuit of drug dealers. We will target these people and we will use any lawful tactics to bring them to justice."

John Wallas the "controlling mind" at the heart of a planned and organised commercial enterprise in drugs

John Wallas the "controlling mind" at the heart of a planned and organised commercial enterprise in drugs.The 29-year-old, of Kneb...