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Judge puts heroin ring members in prison
CLEVELAND
A federal judge has imprisoned three people who earlier had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and conspiracy to launder money in a Georgia-to-Youngstown drug-trafficking ring that operated during 2013 and 2014.
Vincent D. Moorer, 31, of Lithonia, Ga., was sentenced Monday to eight years and four months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge James S. Gwin. Moorer will be on supervised release for four years after serving his prison sentence.
His co-defendants, Keyonia M. Moorer, 35, of Akron, who is his sister, and Charity A. Cousin, 29, of Warren, were sentenced to three years and four months and two years and six months in prison, respectively. Both will be on three years’ supervised release after their prison terms. Vincent Moorer’s plea followed Judge Gwin’s denial of his motion to exclude wiretaps and an Oct. 12, 2014, traffic stop on Interstate 80 from evidence.
In the traffic stop, troopers pulled over a car in which Moorer was a passenger, saying it had excessive window tint and had been following another vehicle too closely.
The defense complained there was no valid reason for the traffic stop, but the prosecution said it was justified because, based on earlier wiretaps of Moorer and others, authorities had reason to believe heroin might have been in the car.
Authorities smelled marijuana and found a small piece of a marijuana cigarette, jewelry, $20,000 in cash and a .40-caliber bullet in the car.
In April, Judge Gwin gave Cousin and Vincent Moorer permission to marry at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, where Northeast Ohio federal detainees are held pending conclusion of their court cases.
The case was prosecuted by Youngstown-based assistant U.S. Attorneys David M. Toepfer and Jason Matthew Katz and the Cleveland-based assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip J. Tripi.