Republished June 03, 2016 - 2:15 PM
Original Publication Date June 03, 2016 - 1:00 PM
CAMDEN, N.J. - A Jamaican dancehall DJ accused of running a family drug ring that shipped cocaine from California to New Jersey was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in prison.
Andrew Davis, who's from Kingston, Jamaica, and records under the name Flippa Moggela, also was ordered to pay a $250,000 penalty and is ineligible for parole for 12 years.
Prosecutors said Davis, who's 37 years old, ran the drug operation along with his brother Kemar Davis, of Hollywood, California. Kemar Davis pleaded guilty and was sentenced in March to 20 years in prison. Their brother Roger Davis also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years.
A Camden County jury found Andrew Davis guilty in December of crimes including distribution of cocaine and money laundering. Davis also was charged with leading a narcotics trafficking network, but the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on that charge. He will face a new trial on that charge, which carries a sentence of life in prison, with 25 years of parole ineligibility, upon conviction.
Davis' attorney, Robin Lord, said the trial court made numerous errors that will result in his convictions being reversed.
"An innocent man was sentenced today both for crimes he did not commit, and crimes he was not convicted of," Lord said in an emailed statement.
A co-defendant at Andrew Davis' trial was sentenced in February to 21 years in state prison. Investigators said the co-defendant received large shipments of cocaine in New Jersey and distributed them to other drug traffickers under the direction of Andrew and Kemar Davis.
"Andrew Davis thought he could live the good life in Jamaica with the hundreds of thousands of dollars he and his brothers reaped by shipping cocaine from California into New Jersey," Acting Attorney General Lougy said. "His big mistake was underestimating how far we would go with our law enforcement partners to bring them to justice and stop them from trafficking their poison into our communities."
News from © The Associated Press, 2016