(AP Photo/Dave Martin)
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) – A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to conspiring with others in a scheme to transport and distribute untaxed cigarettes.
Chun Chen of Bowie, Md., pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Greenbelt. According to a plea agreement, Chen owned a restaurant in Maryland and for approximately six months bought untaxed cigarettes from two conspirators. He in turn sold the cigarettes to people in New York.
Chen faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced July 13. He is one of seven people charged in the scheme, including two Prince George’s County police officers. Authorities say the group bought cigarettes and alcohol from an undercover agent. Altogether they paid more than $1.7 million for the contraband cigarettes.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
