Abingdon Drug Dealer Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison; Tanya Mack Was A Fugitive for 14 Months

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore:

U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr., sentenced Tanya Valencia Mack, age 40, of Abingdon, Maryland to 20 years in prison, followed by ten years of supervised release, for possession with the intent to distribute powder and crack cocaine. A federal jury convicted Tanya Mack on February 14, 2011. Mack was a fugitive for 14 months, until her arrest on December 8, 2009.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Harford County Sheriff L. Jesse Bane; Colonel Terrence Sheridan, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Chief Henry Trabert of the Aberdeen Police Department; Chief Teresa Walter of the Havre de Grace Police Department; Special Agent in Charge Ava Cooper-Davis of the Drug Enforcement Administration – Washington Field Division; and Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly.

According to evidence presented at the four day trial, as part of an investigation into drug dealing in Harford County being conducted by the Harford County Task Force (HCTF), law enforcement received authorization to intercept cellular telephones used by Candis Mack, Tanya Mack, Winston Mack and Fernando Settles. Candis Mack, Winston Mack and Tanya Mack are all siblings. Fernando Settles was the boyfriend of Tanya Mack and resided with her during the conspiracy. A number of calls were played at the trial. In the calls Tanya Mack uses coded language to request that Winston Mack purchase cutting agents for the cocaine and that he convert powder cocaine to crack cocaine. Numerous other calls intercepted over Tanya Mack’s phone involved her contacting customers to arrange narcotics transactions, including calls which revealed that after the transaction occurred, the drugs were either swallowed or discarded by customers in order to avoid detection by law enforcement when the customers’ vehicles were stopped. Other calls describe both the type and quantity of drugs sold by Settles and Winston Mack. Investigators also learned that Candis Mack would be traveling to New Jersey on February 12, 2008 to buy cocaine. As Mack drove back to Maryland, Maryland State Police stopped her car on a traffic violation and seized more than a kilogram of cocaine and $2,600. In addition, investigators seized crack cocaine and marijuana from Winston Mack, and approximately 1/4 kilo of powder cocaine was seized from Settles. According to co-defendant Derrick Prather’s plea agreement, after hearing Candis Mack and Prather discuss by phone the quantity and price of cocaine, on March 5, 2008, investigators searched Prather’s residence and seized over 11 ounces of cocaine, a digital scale, a cutting agent and over $10,000.

Judge Quarles previously sentenced co-defendant Candis Mack, age 36, of Joppa, Maryland to 135 months in prison for possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. On April 10, 2009, a jury convicted co-defendants Fernando Alexander Settles, age 30, of Abingdon, Maryland, and Winston Charles Mack, age 35, of Edgewood, of drug trafficking offenses and they were sentenced to 240 months and 136 months in prison, respectively. A fourth defendant, Derrick Lamont Prather, age 33, of Havre de Grace, Maryland, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Harford County Task Force for its assistance in the investigation of this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case and commended Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher J. Romano and Benjamin M. Block, who prosecuted the case.