Salisbury cocaine dealer sentenced to 20 years in prison
A Salisbury cocaine dealer, convicted back in December, will spend the next 20 years behind bars.
On Wednesday, 45-year-old Charles Riley Jr., was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and for two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The charges stem from an investigation into the distribution of cocaine that ran from July 2013 through August 2013. During that two month time, Riley distributed over 15 kilograms of cocaine, ten of which were while he was on pretrial release on state drug charges.
“Mr. Riley was responsible for trafficking a large amount of cocaine throughout the Salisbury area in a very short amount of time,” said Gary Tuggle, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office. “DEA and our law enforcement partners put an end to Mr. Riley’s drug trafficking days. A new day has dawned for Mr. Riley – from a jail cell in a federal prison,” added Tuggle.
During that investigation Riley was found to have worked with David Wayne Nelson, Royce Levi Brown, Charles Rudolph White and others to distribute cocaine in the Salisbury area. All were linked to the investigation through wire taps, and text message interceptions. On August 16th, 2013, Riley was seen with a package that had almost 500 grams of cocaine inside, and arrested on state drug charges.
During a search of Riley’s home on that same day, law enforcement found a cocaine press, a scale, money counter, and drug packaging material, along with a loaded AK-47 and a loaded 9mm handgun, as well as ammunition. Just days later, Riley parked a Jeep Grand Cherokee with between nine and 10 kilograms of cocaine, in Brown’s yard.
On August 27th, 2013 that vehicle was searched, and 5.5 kilograms of cocaine were recovered, with two more found inside Brown’s home.
Co-conspirators 32-year-old David Nelson, of Salisbury, was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison; 31-year-old Royce Brown, of Mardela Springs, was sentenced to four years in prison; and 34-year-old Charles White, of Salisbury, was sentenced to three years and one month in prison.
Riley was convicted back in December 2014.
