With fentanyl a focus, second sentence is handed down in sprawling Erie 4-Nation gang case

A 23-year-old Erie resident faced a substantial amount of time in federal prison for trafficking in 1,400 fentanyl pills over a little less than two years. The pills carried a total street value of as much as $28,000, or $20 per pill.

Adding to the problems for the defendant, Rayshawn M. Woodard, was that he sold the highly addictive drugs as part of his role in the large-scale Erie street gang 4-Nation.

The combination of the drug dealing and the gang membership has combined to lead to a five-year sentence for Woodard, the second defendant to be sentenced in the 58-defendant 4-Nation case — the largest-ever criminal case prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Erie.

Woodard, known as RDollaz, was accused of being the 10th-highest ranking member of 4-Nation, according to the indictment, returned on May 30 and unsealed June 8. The indictment alleges the gang operated in the area of East 24th and Wallace streets in Erie for about a decade.

Woodard is 2nd defendant sentenced in Erie gang case

The first 22 defendants indicted in the case, including Woodard, are accused of violating the federal anti-racketeering law by being members of 4-Nation. The other 36 defendants are accused of conspiring to traffic in illegal drugs, with some of those defendants connected to the 4-Nation defendants.

Woodard's case moved swiftly, as did the case of the other defendant who has been sentenced to date — Marius L. Russell, 32, known as Gifted, the eighth-highest ranking member of 4-Nation. Russell got a mandatory minimum prison term of 10 years in November.

Like Russell, Woodard pleaded guilty after working out a deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office. And, like Russell, Woodard was sentenced immediately after he pleaded guilty. Both waived presentencing reports, which most defendants usually wait to be completed before they are sentenced in federal court in Erie.

Woodard pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Dec. 21 to the two counts against him: violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, by participating in gang activity, and conspiring to deal in the 1,400 fentanyl pills as part of the gang between August 21 and the date of the indictment, according to court records.

The plea deal called for Woodard to receive a sentence of five years on both counts and four years of supervised release, according to court records. The conspiracy count carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years due to the amount of drugs involved, and the RICO count carried a maximum sentence of 20 years.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter followed the plea deal in sentencing Woodard to a total of five years in prison and four years of supervised release. She also followed the deal in ordering Woodard to serve the two five-year sentences concurrently, leading to the overall sentence of five years.

Russell, who was sentenced to a total of 10 years, got a stiffer sentence because he was accused of trafficking in 6,215 fentanyl pills as a member of 4-Nation. That is more than five times the number of pills Woodard was accused of selling.

Defense says Woodard wants to reunite with 4 children after prison

Fentanyl pills sell on the streets of Erie for as much $20 per pill, according to evidence presented in other drug cases in U.S. District Court in Erie. The U.S. Attorney's Office in those cases has said dealers can buy the pills for $4 to $5 each and sell them to users for $10 to $20.

The RICO count at the heart of the 4-Nation case alleges that the gang was a criminal enterprise that distributed illegal drugs and engaged in other crimes, with some of the activity occurring for the past 10 years. The U.S. Attorney's Office had never before used the RICO statute — designed to bring down the mob and other criminal organizations — in an Erie case.

The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges 4-Nation had a hierarchy and other organizational structure. The accused leader of the gang is Davante Q. Jones, 30, known as Smoov. He is in prison as he awaits prosecution. He has until Feb. 29 to file pretrial motions in his case, according to Dec. 6 court order.

In Woodard's case, his court-appointed lawyer said the plea deal was appropriate given Woodard's guilty plea and his decision to resolve his charges at a speedy pace. The lawyer, Michael Ovens, of Pittsburgh, also said Woodard wants to reunite with his four children and other relatives as soon as he finishes his sentence.

"Mr. Woodard made the determination to accept responsibility at a very early stage of the proceedings, only the second of the fifty-eight to be sentenced so far," Oven said in a sentencing memorandum. "Mr. Woodard requested to move forward in this manner so that he could serve his sentence and eventually return to his family."

U.S. Attorney's Office says fentanyl sales fueled 4-Nation

In his sentencing memo, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers, said the plea deal was a fair resolution to Woodard's case. Sellers highlighted how the 4-Nation probe revealed how the sale of fentanyl was an integral function of the gang.

Woodard's distribution of fentanyl "did not occur within the typical structure of a drug distribution network," Sellers said in the sentencing memo. "Rather, the Defendant's drug sales were facilitated by his association with the criminal enterprise known as 4-Nation and through his association with various members of the gang.

"Over the past decade, law enforcement has associated multiple homicides, and dozens of shootings, stabbings, assaults, burglaries, robberies and other acts of violence and crime with the 4-Nation enterprise," according to the memo. "While the regional alliances and fraternal loyalties may have served as the backbone for the organization and violence as its calling card, drug trafficking and distribution has consistently been the engine driving the enterprise."

As part of the investigation of 4-Nation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, Erie police and other law enforcement agencies seized 19.2 pounds of methamphetamine; 180,018 fentanyl pills; 5.22 kilograms of cocaine, or about 11.5 pounds; 4.9 kilograms of fentanyl powder, or about 11 pounds; 709.5 grams of fentanyl-related drugs, or about 25 ounces; several pounds of marijuana, 33 guns and $235,151 in cash.

Investigators used wiretaps, postings on social media and other evidence to build a case against Woodard and the other defendants, according to court records.

In Woodard's case, Sellers said in the sentencing memo, Woodard's and others' "social media postings from 2014 on self-identified the Defendant as an associate of the enterprise through his repeated use of 4-Nation gang hand signs and association with known gang members."

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie 4-Nation member sentenced for gang activity, dealing in fentanyl