Last Member of Trinidad Drug Ring Sentenced to 8 Years in prison in Washington D.C.

The last member of a group involved in a notorious Trinidad neighborhood drug market, Levancie Carr, 43, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.  On September 11, Carr, who had already been convicted of three felonies, pled guilty to counts of distributing fentanyl and having a handgun to promote a drug trafficking violation. He must now serve not just the jail sentence but also an extra five years of supervised release, as ordered by Chief Judge James E. Boasberg, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Federal and local agencies, including the DEA’s Washington Division and the FBI Washington Field Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force, launched an aggressive investigation that resulted in the drug ring’s dismantlement in June 2023. Throughout the operation, agents completed 42 controlled drug purchases, totaling more than 600 grams of fentanyl and 150 grams of crack cocaine. According to the Justice Department’s press announcement, Carr personally executed 18 of the purchases. Carr’s residence was raided on May 27, 2024, and officials discovered 375 grams of cocaine, five weapons, and $115,621 in cash.

Aside from Carr, seven other defendants were sentenced for their involvement in the Trinidad drug market for crimes ranging from conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, fentanyl analog, and cocaine base to criminal contempt. The penalties imposed on members of the organization, aged 22 to 53, varied from 12 months and one day to 126 months in prison. According to court documents, the Trinidad trafficking network supplied a whopping 468 kilos of illicit drugs, demonstrating the operation’s influence on the local population.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro officially announced the punishment, bringing an end to a case that had been ongoing for several years. The prosecution team, led by Assistant US Attorneys Nihar Mohanty and Daniel Seidel of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, sought to thoroughly demolish the area’s enormous open-air narcotics market.