Former Baltimore Safe Streets Member Ronald Alexander Pleads Guilty In Federal Drug Distribution Case
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A former member of Baltimore Safe Streets, 50-year-old Ronald Alexander, pleaded guilty in court Monday on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and powder and crack cocaine.
Federal authorities said Alexander used is employment with Safe Streets to avoid arrest and evade law enforcement. He operated a drug shop in northwest Baltimore and was in illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Safe Streets is an organization that's sole purpose is to reduce violence and crime through the city.
Authorities intercepted communications from Alexanders' cell phone from May through July 2020 and learned he was operating a drug shop near Spaulding Avenue and Palmer Avenue in Northwest Baltimore.
According to federal authorities, Alexander and his co-defendant, Thomas Corey Crosby, would communicate every week or two on the sale of narcotics. They would then meet at a gas station at Druid Park Avenue and Liberty Heights in Baltimore, where Crosby would supply drugs to Alexander. Investigators conducted surveillance on these meetings and got the surveillance video from gas stations.
"Ronald Alexander was an armed drug dealer who sold fentanyl and other dangerous drugs here in Baltimore," said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner. "Moreover, he shamefully used his employment with Safe Streets to evade law enforcement and avoid arrest when caught with fentanyl. Community outreach programs play an important role in deterring youth from a life of crime. Alexander had the opportunity to uplift his community but instead chose to pollute it with deadly narcotics that he sold to benefit only himself."
According to the plea agreement, a Baltimore officer pulled Alexander on Aug. 5, 2020 after he rolled through a stop sign. During the traffic stop, Alexander used his affiliation with Safe Streets and the Mayor's office to try to deter a further investigation.
Alexander told an associate afterwards, "Yeah. Police hopped on me. Told me to get off the phone. You know they scared, you know they scared of the Mayor Office, I said man I work for Safe Streets from the Mayor Office. I was just coming from one of my participant house, in need with this, it was in need of food due to the pandemic. He say oh, ok ok."
Then four days latest, police pulled Alexander over as he was leaving a gas station after meeting up with Crosby. Officers searched the car and recovered 100 grams of fentanyl. Again, Alexander told law enforcement that he worked for Safe Streets and provided law enforcement with a letter from the Baltimore City Mayor's Office. When asked about the drugs, he said it was a part of his work with the community in an attempt to prevent crime. Police seized the drugs, according to court documents, but allowed him to leave without being arrested.
They later searched Alexander's home and another residence where he stayed and seized a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, ammunition, digital scale and drug packaging material in addition to 100 grams of powdered caffeine.
Thomas Corey Crosby, age 51, of Woodlawn, Maryland, previously pleaded and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, specifically, 40 grams or more of fentanyl. Judge Russell also ordered Crosby to forfeit $134,499 in cash, seized during a search of his residence on August 14, 2020.
Alexander and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea, Alexander will be sentenced to between 11 and 13 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III has scheduled sentencing for September 17, 2021 at 11 a.m.
