Hagerstown man sentenced to 10 years for distributing crack cocaine

August 31, 2010|By DON AINES

A Hagerstown man was sentenced Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court to 10 years in prison for distribution of crack cocaine.

Luis G. Caldero, 31, of 1040 Brinker Drive, Apt. 302, pleaded guilty before Circuit Judge M. Kenneth Long Jr., who sentenced him to 20 years in prison with 10 of those years suspended. Long also ordered that Caldero be placed on probation for three years after his release from prison.

Additional charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed as part of the plea agreement, court records show.

A Washington County Narcotics Task Force informant was used May 10 to purchase crack cocaine from a man, according to the statement of probable cause in the case. The purchase was for $500, the statement said.

In the incident, the man was picked up by the informant on Little Elliott Drive and told to drive to the Food Lion on Wilson Boulevard, the statement of probable cause said. The man got out of the informant's car and into another, returning with two bags of crack cocaine, the statement said.

Task force agents stopped the informant's car and arrested the passenger, Rodney Lewis, the statement of probable cause said. The other car also was stopped and agents arrested Caldero, who was driving, the statement said.

Agents found $300 of the money used to buy the cocaine in Caldero's pants pocket and the remaining $200 in the informant's car stuffed between the front seats, the statement of probable cause said. The cocaine Lewis gave to the informant was recovered, along with more crack cocaine found on Caldero when he was searched, the statement said.

Long ordered that more than $5,200 found in Caldero's home be forfeited to the state, if not already claimed by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

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