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Three Men Sentenced in Drug Dealing Case

May 15, 2006 – Three men busted in 2003 for involvement in a major drug dealing ring have been sentenced, after being convicted last August on various charges including conspiracy to import, transport and distribute cocaine and marijuana (See "Four Found Guilty of Drug Dealing").
The three men, Elroy Dowe, Daniel Fleming and Rudolph Clarke, were sentenced Thursday, Friday and Monday respectively by Judge James T. Giles, presiding judge of the Third Circuit Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Dowe was sentenced to 10 years in jail and Fleming to 15, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, for their roles in the drug trafficking conspiracy.
Clarke, who pleaded guilty the night before the trial began to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, got three years with five years supervised probation.
Clarke was given "special consideration" the release said because he cooperated with the government.
The men were arrested in 2003 after a two-year investigation that focused on the conspiracy, money laundering and drug trafficking activities of the ring (See "Investigation Nets Eight Arrests, $1 Million").
Ringleader Craig Hendricks used his St. Thomas business, Craig's Marine, as a front for the illegal activities.
A former Department of Planning and Natural Resources officer, Montclair Guishard, was previously convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute drugs, bribery in a federally funded program, making a false statement and concealment of felony.
Guishard was sentenced, but the Third Circuit agreed he should be re-sentenced after his lawyer argued successfully that former District Court Judge Thomas K. Moore had incorrectly imposed mandatory sentencing in the case (See "Convicted Former DPNR Officer to Be Re-Sentenced").
Another man who had agreed to cooperate with officials was shot and killed just before the trial begain. "Hector Rivera was murdered just before the trial when his cooperation with the government was revealed," the release said .
Hendricks and co-conspirator Russell Robinson have not yet been sentenced. James Carroll III, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, could not say Monday night when the pair would be sentenced.

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