Richard Byrd Sentenced to 26 Years in Federal Prison for Leading Major Baltimore Drug Distribution

https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/richard-byrd-sentenced-26-years-federal-prison-leading-major-baltimore-drug-distribution

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Maryland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 9, 2017

Richard Byrd Sentenced to 26 Years in Federal Prison for Leading Major Baltimore Drug Distribution Organization

Laundered Millions of Dollars in Drug Proceeds – Ordered to Pay Money Judgment of $20 Million

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Richard Byrd, a/k/a Robert Smith, age 43, a Jamaican national residing in Maryland and Arizona, today to 26 years in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, and to conspiracy to launder drug proceeds. Judge Bennett also entered an order requiring Byrd to pay a money judgment of $20 million dollars, as well as forfeit his interest in two properties, three businesses, and 10 vehicles, and forfeit $1,609,411.51 in cash seized during the investigation.

According to his plea agreement and court documents, from 2009 through April 2014, Richard Byrd was the leader and organizer a drug distribution network which provided for the acquisition, transportation and distribution of cocaine and marijuana. The sale of marijuana and cocaine generated proceeds in the millions of dollars. These proceeds were counted and packaged in and around Baltimore. Byrd used couriers to transport the proceeds to the Atlanta, Georgia area, then others to transport the money from Atlanta to cities in Nevada, Texas, Arizona, and California, where the cash was used to purchase additional quantities of drugs.

Byrd also acquired a financial interest in a business in order to launder drug proceeds, finance commercial ventures, and pay other bills and expenses. At his direction, several million dollars in cash were deposited into the bank accounts maintained by the business. Many of these transactions involve deposits in excess of $10,000. In addition, Byrd used bank accounts in the name of an alias, Robert Smith, to conduct financial transactions intended to launder drug proceeds, including paying personal bills and expenses.

The conspirators used freight companies to ship drugs obtained in Arizona, California and elsewhere to distribution points in Baltimore, and other east coast destinations. Rasan Byrd supervised the Arizona-based activities of organization. Under the direction of Richard Byrd, Rasan coordinated the acquisition of large quantities of marijuana and cocaine from Mexican sources of supply and supervised several workers who weighed and packaged the drugs in a way to avoid detection by law enforcement. On April 22, 2013, law enforcement officers in Arizona seized 16 kilograms of cocaine and over 600 pounds of marijuana which were about to be shipped to Byrd’s Baltimore-based distributors.
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During the course of this conspiracy more than 150 kilograms of cocaine and 20,000 kilograms of marijuana were acquired and distributed by Richard Byrd and his associates.
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