Major Local Methamphetamine Trafficker Sentenced to More Than 15 Years Imprisonment

OCT 20 -- Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Washington Division, Shawn A. Johnson, announced the sentencing of Wyatt Wood, 42, of Washington, DC, by United States District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan to 188 months imprisonment following his earlier guilty plea to federal drug trafficking charges.

On April 19, 2005, Wood pled guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute and Unlawful Possession with Intent to Distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, also know as “Ice”, Conspiracy to Distribute and Unlawful Possession with Intent to Distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, and Conspiracy to Distribute and Unlawful Possession with Intent to Distribute a detectable amount of 3,4-Methylenedioxy Methamphetamine, also known as “Ecstasy”.

The evidence proffered at the sentencing hearing established that, between January 1999 and November 22, 2004 (the date of Wood’s arrest), Woods utilized several sources to supply him with large quantities of Ice, cocaine, ecstasy, and other designed drugs. Additionally, Woods employed a number of individuals to distribute the designer drugs as well. Wood was held responsible for the distribution of 60 kilograms of Ice, 5.5 kilograms of cocaine, and 4 kilograms of ecstasy. He additionally possessed with the intent to distribute large quantities of Ketamine, Marijuana, Clonazepam, d-Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL), and Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB).

Wood’s sentencing represents the culmination of a four-year joint effort by a DEA task force which resulted in the successful prosecution of more than 30 defendants to whom Wood supplied designer drugs. Moreover, this task force had seized more than one million dollars in assets from Wood. The joint investigation, initially designated as “Operation Tina Town”, was a joint DEA, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Arlington County effort that became part of a larger national initiative called “Operation Wildfire”. Operation Wildfire was a nationally coordinated law enforcement initiative designed to (1) target all levels of the methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution chain I the United States and (2) continue the fight against the spread of methamphetamine. The unprecedented law enforcement effort involved over 200 U.S. cities and resulted in the arrest of 427 individuals.