NORFOLK, Va. – A New Jersey man pleaded guilty today to Conspiracy to Manufacture, Distribute, and Possess with Intent to Manufacture and Distribute Heroin, Fentanyl, and Furanyl Fentanyl resulting in death.
According to court documents, Rashad L. Clark, 38, of Elizabethport, New Jersey, supplied local ringleader, Erskine Dawson, Jr., with heroin and fentanyl from September to December 2016 while co-supplier, Kenneth Stuart, aka “Bones,” aka “Brutal,” was incarcerated on state charges. Clark concealed the narcotics in stuffed animals and trafficked them from New Jersey to Virginia where he would stay for days at a time to oversee Dawson’s operation, which was based out of a Studios 4 Less motel in Virginia Beach. Clark supplied Dawson with thousands of wax baggies containing heroin and fentanyl stamped with labels like “King of Death,” “Last Call,” “Mad Max,” “Bentley,” “No Evil,” “Black Dynamite,” “Superman,” “Tango Cash,” “Moneybag,” “Tower of Power,” and “Steph Curry.”
On Sept. 7, 2016, H.D. consumed fentanyl supplied by Dawson via Clark and suffered a fatal overdose. On Nov. 14, 2016, G.M. consumed heroin supplied by Dawson via Clark and suffered a fatal overdose. On Dec. 8, 2016, the DEA in partnership with officers from the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake police departments executed search warrants on motels in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Norfolk, made arrests, and seized guns and over 1,800 wax baggies of heroin and fentanyl. From September to December 2016 over $70,000 cash was deposited by members of this conspiracy into a Wells Fargo account controlled by Clark.
Six of the eight co-conspirators have now pleaded guilty and four have been sentenced.
Clark faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison when sentenced on April 2.
