Roseville Man Sentenced In Mississippi Drug Conspiracy; Dad, Harper Woods Man Awaiting Fate
GULFPORT, Miss. (WWJ/AP) - A judge has sentenced a 25-year-old Michigan man to 42 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin in South Mississippi.
U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden on Tuesday also sentenced Clifford Barnette Jones Jr., of Roseville, to three years of post-release supervision and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine.
Jones' 56-year-old father, Clifford Barnette Jones Sr. of Pasadena, California, and 46-year-old Mark Anthony Williams Sr., of Harper Woods, Michigan, each pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Williams' sentencing is set for Wednesday, with the elder Jones' sentencing set for Sept. 24.
A federal grand jury had indicted all three on the conspiracy charge along with one count each of interstate travel in aid of racketeering and two counts each of attempted possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. In exchange for their pleas, the government dismissed the remaining charges.
Prosecutors said the drug conspiracy ran from April 2013 through March. The investigation began after a confidential informant starting talking to Jones Sr. about selling cocaine.
An undercover officer met with the elder Jones in Waveland, Miss. to show him some cocaine, then gave him a bank account number to make payments for any drug deals. The three wanted to buy the cocaine in South Mississippi and deliver it to a man in Detroit.
Over the course of the investigation that ended in February 2014, the three deposited a total of $65,000 into a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration bank account for the purchase of cocaine and heroin.
They were taken into custody Feb. 24, 2014, when they showed up in a casino parking lot and turned over $35,000 for the purchase of 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1 kilogram of heroin.
All three are in custody.
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