Final conspirator in Harford drug ring gets 20 years in federal prison

Tony Roberts, The Aegis, Bel Air, Md.
·4 min read
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Dec. 22—An Aberdeen man has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a cocaine distribution ring operating in Harford County that police busted in 2019.

U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III sentenced Che Jaron Durbin, 44, of Aberdeen on Monday to 20 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The sentence came in connection with Russell's role in a drug trafficking organization that was distributing cocaine and crack cocaine in Harford County.

The sentenced was announced by Maryland State's Attorney Erek L. Barron.

According to evidence presented at the eight-day trial, members of the Harford County Drug Task Force were investigating Durbin, who was suspected of drug trafficking in the Harford County area in May 2019. According to a news release from the Maryland State's Attorney's Office, witnesses testified a U.S. postal inspector notified detectives that a suspicious package was going to Durbin's mother's apartment in Aberdeen on May 17, 2019.

Detectives observed a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier deliver the parcel to Durbin, who took it into the apartment, according to the news release. Shortly after, a woman who was later identified as co-defendant Jameka Cara Thompson, left the apartment with the parcel and drove to her home, according to the news release.

Law enforcement officers detained Thompson and obtained a search warrant for her vehicle where they found one kilogram of compressed cocaine in the parcel, according to the news release. After further investigation, investigators found co-defendant Jack Anderson of Tucson, Arizona, had sent the package, according to the news release.

On Jan. 22, 2020, law enforcement learned from U.S. postal inspectors that Durbin sent a parcel from Havre de Grace to Anderson in Arizona, according to the news release. After obtaining a search warrant, law enforcement found that the parcel contained $82,300 in cash inside a wireless headphones box, according to the news release.

Then, law enforcement intercepted Durbin's communications as well as those of Anderson, co-defendant Terrell Walton, and other co-defendants to whom Durbin supplied cocaine and crack cocaine as part of the investigation in February 2020, according to the news release.

The evidence demonstrated Walton obtained cocaine from Durbin, which Walton then sold to a network of individuals in Harford County; while intercepted communications between Durbin and Walton included discussions regarding the amounts of drugs and the price often using coded language, according to the news release.

In May 2020, law enforcement surveilled Durbin meeting with Anderson at a hotel in Arizona, according to trial testimony. Soon after the meeting, Durbin picked Thompson up at the Tucson airport and drove her back to his hotel room, according to the news release.

Durbin went back to Maryland the next day and Thompson obtained a bulk supply of cocaine from Anderson on Durbin's behalf, according to the news release. Thompson was arrested on May 12, 2020, while she was driving cross-country from Arizona to Harford County, according to the news release.

Law enforcement searched her vehicle and seized 1.4 kilograms of cocaine, according to the news release. Durbin was also arrested. According to trial testimony, over the course of the conspiracy, Thompson made at least eight similar trips on Durbin's behalf, transporting almost 40 kilograms of cocaine to Maryland for Durbin to distribute, according to the news release.

Durbin's attorney was not available for comment.

Co-defendant Terrell Darnell Walton, 36, of Delaware, was also convicted at trial for the drug conspiracy and was sentenced on Sep. 23 to 13 years in federal prison. Co-defendant Jack Anderson IV, 46, of Tucson was sentenced to 126 months in federal prison in December 2021, after Anderson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Co-defendants Jameka Cara Thompson, 42, of Abingdon, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison; Gerrick Devlon Jackson, 40, of Havre de Grace, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison; and Michael Ronnell Wells, 38, of Forest Hill, was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison, for their roles in the conspiracy.