WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors this week unsealed cases against three new defendants in an alleged cross-country pill trafficking conspiracy linked to the overdose death of a young D.C. mother in April 2021.
On Thursday, police executed warrants on three D.C. residents:
- Melvin Edward Allen, aka “21”
- Darius Quincy Hodges, aka “Brick”
- Lamin Sesay, aka “Rockstar”
All three men fare accused of joining a conspiracy to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl — a felony carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison upon conviction. A magistrate judge ordered them temporarily held without bond until a detention hearing next week.
Allen, Hodges and Sesay are the latest defendants indicted in an alleged fentanyl trafficking conspiracy that stretched from California to D.C. and involved the sale of tens of thousands of fake oxycodone pills laced with the synthetic opioid. Prosecutors say some of those pills were sold to Diamond Lynch, a young D.C. mother who overdosed twice – once in November 2020, which she survived, and a second time in April 2021, which she did not.
Two defendants, Larry Eastman and his sister Justice, were charged in January 2022 on drug conspiracy charges linked to Lynch’s death. Both pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. In June, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Larry Eastman to more than 11 years in prison and Justice Eastman to three years.
In March, a federal grand jury began returning additional indictments in connection with the alleged conspiracy. By June, 12 people had been indicted:
- Hector David Valdez
- Craig Eastman
- Charles Jeffrey Taylor
- Raymond Nava, Jr.
- Ulises Aldaz
- Max Alexander Carias Torres
- Teron Deandre McNeil
- Marvin "Money Marr" Anthony Bussie
- Marcus Orlando Brown
- Columbian Thomas
- Wayne Rodell Carr-Maiden
- Andre Malik Edmond
According to court filings, prosecutors allege Charles Taylor and Craig Eastman — who is Larry and Justice Eastman's brother — traveled to and from Los Angeles, where they purchased counterfeit oxycodone pills known as “M30s” from a third man, Hector Valdez. When Valdez was arrested in California, investigators reportedly found nearly 10 lbs. of counterfeit pills and half a kilogram of fentanyl powder in his home. Police reported finding seven firearms, including one believed to be a machine gun, at the residence where Taylor and Craig Eastman were taken into custody. Craig Eastman faces additional charges for allegedly possessing fentanyl with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school.
Prosecutors said a search of Craig Eastman’s phone turned up drug ledgers in a note-taking application as well as hundreds of messages involving suspected drug conversations – including at least one in which Eastman indicated he knew he’d received tainted pills.
“Perhaps most troubling of all, there is at least one message conversation… where Craig Eastman knows that he has a ‘bad batch’ of pills, and instead of showing a modicum of regard for human life, he instead decides to sell the pills in a fire sale,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Wang wrote in a filing in March asking for Craig Eastman and Taylor to be detained pending trial.
A month after Craig Eastman and Taylor were arrested, two more defendants were indicted and taken into custody: Raymond Nava Jr. and Max Carias Torres, both of California. According to court documents, prosecutors believe Nava and Torres were “upstream suppliers” for Valdez.
In June, prosecutors unsealed charges against Marcus Orland Brown, Wayne Rodell Carr-Maiden, Thomas Columbian and Marcus "Money Marr" Anthony Bussie. Prosecutors allege Columbian and Carr-Maiden served as D.C.-based distributors of the fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills. Between the two of them they are accused of conspiracy to distribute “hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl” in the D.C. area.
Prosecutors said Bussie, who was already detained in Maryland in a separate conspiracy case linked to 5,000 fentanyl pills mailed to a Waldorf home, was identified as a suspected fentanyl trafficker after candy boxes containing more than 2 lbs. of counterfeit oxycontin pills were found in his luggage during screening at LAX in October 2022.
The three new defendants arrested this week — Allen, Hodges and Sesay — were scheduled to return to court Thursday for a detention hearing. Court records indicated there may yet be additional defendants who could face charges related to the case.