United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and a quantity of fentanyl.

According to court documents, Dujuan Walters, 34, maintained a stash house at his residence in Newport News, at the direction of co-conspirators. Walters and his co-conspirators used his residence to store heroin, fentanyl, a hydraulic press, and other equipment used in the preparation and distribution of controlled substances. In December 2018, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Walters’s residence, where they recovered the aforementioned items, as well as a kilogram of heroin, additional black tar heroin, and liquid fentanyl.

Walters pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and a quantity of fentanyl and faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment when sentenced on April 17, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

DEA Washington Division Special Agent in Charge Jesse R. Fong; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia G. Zachary Terwilliger; ICE-HSI Norfolk Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jim Stitzel; Colonel Gary T. Settle, superintendent of Virginia State Police; Newport News Police Chief Steve R. Drew; and Hampton Division Police Chief Terry L. Sult made the announcement after Magistrate U.S. District Judge Robert J. Krask accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy E. Cross, Peter G. Osyf, and Kevin P. Hudson are prosecuting the case.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Operation Cookout. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

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