One of the three Guyanese men, arrested late last year in New York following a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sting, has pleaded guilty while his co-defendants appear to have been freed.
Ulrich Gavin Anderson, called ‘Dred,’ pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute cocaine earlier this year and he is expected to be sentenced by Judge Sterling Johnson on June 24.
According to court documents, it appears as if his co-accused Ronel Hernandez, called ‘Buck,’ who is a popular barber and David Norton, called ‘Roger,’ have had the matters against them terminated but there is no information on when and why this was done.
The US authorities had arrested the three on Septem-ber 14, 2010, while they were caught attempting to sell cocaine in a Brooklyn parking lot.
DEA agent Victoria Delollo, in court documents, had said that in spring of last year a cooperating witness (CW) had said that a Guyanese named ‘Roger’ had supplied him with kilogramme quantities of cocaine in the recent past. The CW also told law enforcement agents that on several occasions when they had purchased cocaine from ‘Roger,’ another individual known as ‘Dred’ had supplied ‘Roger’ with the cocaine that was sold to him.
From April last, the DEA agents surveilled a meeting between the CW and ‘Roger,’ during which the CW inquir-ed as to whether ‘Roger’ had any cocaine available for sale. During the recorded conversation, ‘Roger’ stated that he had no drugs available at the time. But on September 9, the CW placed another consensually-recorded telephone call to ‘Roger’ and requested one kilogramme of cocaine from him and during that call ‘Roger’ told the CW that he would call his supplier to determine if that quantity of drugs was available for sale.
The DEA agent said on September 13, ‘Roger’ called the CW and stated that he had two kilogrammes of cocaine available for sale at US$32,000 per kilo. After discussing the price further, the CW agreed to purchase one kilo of cocaine on the following day.
On September 14, the CW placed another call, which was being recorded, to ‘Roger’ and indicated he wanted to transact the narcotics deal and the two agreed to meet in Brooklyn, New York, later that day. Prior to the meeting, the CW was provided with a recording device and around 5 pm the CW met ‘Roger’ in a parking lot and he was accompanied by an individual called ‘Buck.’ The CW told agents that ‘Buck’ was an individual who had been present at several of the past narcotics deals involving ‘Roger.’
After the CW arrived, ‘Roger’ instructed him to go to a different location to complete the transaction and soon after arriving at the new location Anderson arrived in a separate vehicle. ‘Buck’ was allegedly seen going to Anderson’s vehicle and he opened the trunk and removed a black nylon bag, which he took to the CW’s vehicle. ‘Buck’ then opened the bag and took out a scale and a Ziploc bag containing cocaine and weighed the cocaine. “At that time, the CW exited the vehicle and Roger, Buck and defendant, Ulrich Gavin Anderson, were placed under arrest,” the DEA agent said.
Following their arrests, ‘Roger’, identified himself to agents as David Norton and ‘Buck’ as Ronel Hernandez. Norton told the agents after he waived his Miranda rights that he had supplied the CW with cocaine on approximately seven occasions in the past. He further stated, among other things, that his role during those transactions was to act as a middleman between Anderson, who supplied the cocaine, and the CW.
