Overview
- Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment July 31 charging 14 Baltimore men with running an open-air drug market in Penn North and using homes as stash locations.
- Agents executed about 20 search warrants on July 29 and seized seven firearms, more than 450 rounds of ammunition, roughly a kilogram of suspected cocaine, hundreds of grams and gel caps of suspected fentanyl, six pounds of marijuana, 32 cellphones and about $15,000 in cash.
- The probe began in December and relied on confidential informants and undercover purchases of distribution-level quantities to build cases against sellers and supervisors.
- The indictment names Walter Epps as an alleged overseer and describes supervisors who resupplied street sellers, collected sales proceeds and managed operations.
- Defendants face federal charges including conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute, with maximum sentences generally up to 20 years and up to 40 years for certain fentanyl thresholds, and two defendants were already in state custody as federal prosecution proceeds.