News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2005

Worcester Man Sentenced On Federal Drug Charges

Worcester, MA... A Worcester man was sentenced Friday, August 26, 2005, in federal court on federal drug offenses.

June W. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England and United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, announced that RAHEEM JONES, age 35, formerly of 45 Wachusett Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV to 9 years in prison, to be followed by 4 years of supervised release. On May 9, 2005, JONES pleaded guilty to distributing cocaine base on five different occasions. Cocaine base is more commonly known as “crack” cocaine.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that from March 2003 through June 2003, JONES distributed over 80 grams of crack in Worcester, Massachusetts. During that time period, the DEA’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (“HIDTA”) Task Force made five separate undercover purchases of crack from JONES, each occurring in the area of the Belmont Hill neighborhood of Worcester. On each occasion, DEA agents were able to witness and record the drug transactions.

JONES has been in federal custody since his arrest on July 7, 2003.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Task Force in Worcester, with the assistance of the Massachusetts State Police and the Worcester Police Department.