Former DC Cop Part of Gambling, Drug Ring

Federal prosecutors say a former District police officer and 11 others were part of a criminal ring that flooded Southern Maryland with cocaine for the past three years.

Darrell Alphonso Carter hasn't been a police officer for more than a decade. During some of the time since leaving the force, prosecutors say he ran a gambling operation in St. Mary's County that catered to the drug dealers he also did business with. The gambling was high stakes, with as much as $80,000 bandied about.

Carter's attorney did not return calls for comment Wednesday. Carter was arrested and has been released, but remains on 24-hour surveillance via an electronic monitor, court records said.

"It was a lengthy investigation that involved an enormous amount of assets," said Maryland's U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein. The investigation, he said, has been running since 2006 and is part of a large-scale operation that has netted 45 arrests in the past three years.

Late last week, more than 200 law enforcement officials from the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other area agencies stormed the homes and suspected hideaways of the 12 defendants simultaneously, Rosenstein said. All told, 20 search warrants executed and authorities hauled in 11 luxury cars and $125,000 in cash.

"In any drug case there is the potential for violence," Rosenstein said, explaining the huge number of law enforcement officials involved in last week's raid. The search warrants, he said, "have to be executed simultaneously or word may get around to other members (of the drug ring)."

Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of $1.5 million they say are the drug ring's proceeds. They say they have taped conversations during which the members of the ring allegedly discussed their plans to distribute what an indictment described as more than 11 pounds of cocaine between November 2006 and September 2009.

The details of the how the ring operated are contained in a sworn statement that remains sealed, Rosenstein said.

Each of the 12 defendants could be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison if convicted.