Capital Mayor’s Friend Faces New Drug Trafficking Charges
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A Federal grand jury today returned a new indictment against Charles Lewis, a former city employee and friend of Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr., adding one count of conspiracy and five counts of distributing cocaine to the 10 charges made against him earlier. A Federal grand jury today returned a new indictment against Charles Lewis, a former city employee and friend of Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr., adding one count of conspiracy and five counts of distributing cocaine to the 10 charges made against him earlier. ”Today’s indictment alleges signficant involvement by Mr. Lewis in a pattern of narcotics trafficking over several years in the District of Columbia and elsewhere in the United States,” said United States Attorney Jay B. Stephens. Drugs Moved From the Islands The new indictment says Mr. Lewis, a resident of the Virgin Islands, periodically transported cocaine from Florida to Washington and Virginia. Mr. Lewis was originally indicted April 13 on seven counts of lying to a grand jury and three counts of possessing cocaine. In a separate case, he was convicted on April 25 of four counts of cocaine trafficking in the Virgin Islands. The Federal investigation began after two city police officers were withdrawn from an assignment on Dec. 22 to make an undercover purchase of drugs from Mr. Lewis. The police had arrived after Mr. Barry showed up at Mr. Lewis’s hotel room. The Mayor has acknowledged getting in touch with police officials at that time, but only to speed up the investigation. One of the perjury charges is that Mr. Lewis lied about whether he had possessed cocaine Dec. 22. Mr. Lewis was also charged with lying about whether he had bought or used drugs with two companions Dec. 21, a day on which Mr. Barry reportedly visited Mr. Lewis’s room twice. The indictment handed up today charges that Mr. Lewis, in Washington, possessed and distributed a mixture containing an unknown amount of cocaine on or about Dec. 10 and on or about Dec. 22. The new charges followed by a day a Federal indictment against another friend of the Mayor, David E. Rivers, former director of the city’s Department of Human Services. Mr. Rivers and John B. Clyburn were accused of conspiring to defraud the city government by steering health services contracts to friends and to a company owned by Mr. Clyburn. Source : query.nytimes.com |