1 of 3 who smuggled 25 pounds of coke into Warren gets 30 years

Staff report

WARREN

Dockery Cleveland of Las Vegas, part of a trio of men who smuggled 25 pounds of cocaine from Compton, Calif., to Warren in 2015, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

Cleveland, 47, was found guilty during a trial in February before U.S. Judge Donald Nugent of cocaine possession and distribution. He was also ordered to forfeit $111,020 in cash.

Among Cleveland’s previous convictions was a 1988 murder, 2002 battery by a prisoner and 2006 assault with a deadly weapon.

Cleveland, Larone Williams, 47, of Burton Street Southeast, and Menford McCain, 35, of Oak Street Southwest, were arrested in October 2015 after investigators learned of a cocaine shipment on an vehicle carrier originating in Compton.

McCain later pleaded guilty in federal court to similar charges and was sentenced to five years in prison in April. Williams was sentenced to 51/2 years in prison in April after pleading guilty to a similar charge.

Investigators said at the point where they learned of the shipment, it was in Columbiana. Investigators went there, found the drugs in a 2002 Volkswagen and replaced all but one of 12 cocaine packages with fake drugs.

The vehicle was then transported on a commercial carrier to the Pat Catan’s plaza at the corner of Youngstown and Ridge roads, where DEA and Warren police conducted surveillance and watched Williams and Cleveland take the Volkswagen after it had been unloaded from the carrier and drive it to Williams’ home on Burton.

The next day, McCain arrived at the house with a backpack, later left with a full backpack and was arrested, police said. About $100,000 in cash was recovered from the backpack, Warren police said.

When investigators entered the Burton Street home with a search warrant, they found Williams and Cleveland and the bogus drugs.