Fruitland man pleads guilty to federal drug charges
SALISBURY, Md. – A Fruitland man has pleaded guilty to federal drug charges.
According to his guilty plea, during January and February 2020, 41-year-old Eric Holbrook engaged in the distribution of cocaine in Maryland. During the investigation, investigators intercepted communications of Holbrook and other members of his drug distribution organization. Surveillance and intercepted communications established that Holbrook received quantities of cocaine from other persons and distributed or participated in the distribution of that cocaine to others. During January and February 2020, Holbrook discussed cocaine, narcotics, and planned cocaine transactions on numerous occasions. Police say participating in the communications referred to cocaine using coded phases and used numbers to refer to quantities and prices for cocaine. Through these intercepted phone calls, along with physical surveillance, investigators learned that Holbrook’s source of supply was 39-year-old Shakoor Stevenson.
On February 4, 2020, Holbrook reportedly arranged to receive a quantity of cocaine from a supplier (Stevenson). On that day, Holbrook and his associates engaged in voice and text communications indicating that he was expecting to receive a quantity of cocaine and would make preparations to store the cocaine. Later that day, Holbrook obtained the cocaine at his Fruitland residence and arranged for the cocaine to be taken to a Salisbury apartment stash location that he used to store narcotics.
As stated in the guilty plea, investigators executed a search warrant at the Salisbury apartment, where over two kilograms of cocaine were seized. Holbrook agrees that he knowingly possessed the cocaine with intent to distribute it to other individuals and that he possessed the cocaine with other members of the organization and aided and abetted in the possession of cocaine with other people in the organization.
The U.S. District Judge accepted a sentencing recommendation set forth in the plea agreement and sentenced Holbrook to six years in prison.
Stevenson, 28-year-old Christopher Layton, and 23-year-old Zy’Sean Holbrook have all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute narcotics charges in U.S. District Court. Stevenson and Zy’Sean Holbrook have been sentenced to 60 months imprisonment each, and Layton is scheduled for sentencing on September 1, 2022.
