Drug Dealer Sentenced For Fatally Shooting Another Dealer And Distribution Conspiracy
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Baltimore man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing another drug dealer and a heroin distribution conspiracy.
Twenty-five-year-old Aaron Daniels conspired with Gregory Whisonant, Nathaniel Hillard and others to distribute heroin in the Shipley Hill neighborhood of Baltimore since at least March 2017, officials said.
Prosecutors said authorities wiretapped the group's cell phones, which confirmed that Daniels sold drugs under the direction of Hillard, who managed the day-to-day business for the organization, which was led by Whisonant. Daniels also frequently sold heroin with Donya Rigby, who sometimes acted as a lookout for the organization, letting the street dealers know when police were around.
After Rigby botched a police lookout in March of last year, Daniels and others were heard during a wiretapped phone call complaining about Rigby and accusing him of stealing $800 of drug money.
On March 17, 2017, investigators intercepted a call between Daniels and Hillard that captured the murder of Rigby. Prosecutors said the 13-minute phone call included the sound of Daniels firing two shots at Rigby and fleeing from an alleyway near the 2600 block of Fairmount Avenue.
Rigby, who could be heard screaming in pain in the background, later succumbed to his gunshot wounds.
Daniels and Hillard were later arrested on state drug charges following the shooting.
At a stash house on Kinsey Avenue, agents conducting a search warrant recovered 100 vials of heroin packaged for street-level distribution, prosecutors said.
At Whisonant's house, police found grams of heroin, a digital scale, more than $10,000 in cash and a stolen and loaded 9mm handgun with an extended magazine.
Hillard, 40, and Whisonant, 39, pleaded guilty to their participation in the drug conspiracy. Hillard also pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, resulting in death, for his participation in Rigby's murder. Whisonant also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Hillard was sentenced to 35 years in prison in May and Whisonant was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison.
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