Prince George's County Drug Dealer Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
OCT 29--A Prince George’s County drug dealer received a mandatory life sentence in federal prison for his role as a leader of a drug conspiracy which was responsible for distributing crack cocaine. Laura M. Nagel, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Washington Division announced today that Marshall Nicholson, Jr., age 38, of Palmer Park, Maryland was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams for distributing crack cocaine in Prince George’s County from at least 1999 through June of 2003.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Prince George’s County Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a lengthy investigation of Nicholson, Jr.’s drug activities. The investigation centered on the Nicholson family residence located on Allendale Drive in Palmer Park, Maryland, and within eyesight of the headquarters of the Prince George’s County Police Department. In fact, surveillance of the residence was frequently conducted from the PGPD headquarters parking lot. As a result of the investigation, ten individuals were charged. Several individuals pled guilty and received substantial terms of imprisonment. Nicholson, Jr. and several codefendants, including his parents, Marshall Nicholson, Sr. and Gladys Nicholson, went to trial in the spring of 2004.
Today, Marshall Nicholson, Jr. was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base and two counts of distribution of fifty grams or more of cocaine base. He also received concurrent sentences of a non-mandatory life sentence for distribution of five hundred grams or more of cocaine; four years imprisonment for use of a telephone in furtherance of the drug conspiracy to launder drug proceeds.
Nicholson, Sr., who permitted his son to use the family residence on Allendale Drive to distribute and store drugs, was sentenced on September 13, 2004, to 135 months in prison and five years of supervised release. Gladys Nicholson was convicted of money laundering and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 13, 2004. The money laundering conviction was based on Gladys Nicholson’s purchase of a $500,000 Charles County residence located on Dunbratton Court in Waldorf, Maryland, in her name with the drug proceeds of her son.
In addition to the sentences imposed, Nicholson, Jr. and Nicholson, Sr. were ordered to forfeit $1.5 million, and their interests in the residences located on Dunbratton Court and on Allendale Drive as well as numerous motor vehicles, jewelry, and other and personal property.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Chan Park and Deborah Johnston.
