Baltimore Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Charge for Selling Heroin and Cocaine in Southwest Baltimore

 Expected to Be Sentenced to More Than 12 Years in Federal Prison

Greenbelt, Maryland – Calvin Claxton, a/k/a Cal, age 41, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty today to his participation in a drug distribution conspiracy operating in the Edmondson Village neighborhood in southwest Baltimore.  The drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) of which Claxton was a member sold heroin and cocaine on a daily basis in street-level quantities.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Timothy Jones of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, from at least September 2018 through June 2019, Claxton participated in a DTO and conspired to distribute heroin, powder cocaine, and crack cocaine to drug users and redistributors in and around the Edmondson Village neighborhood of southwest Baltimore.  During the course of the investigation, law enforcement learned that Claxton engaged in communications regarding the DTO’s distribution of narcotics, the whereabouts of co-conspirators, the presence of law enforcement, and the availability of narcotics.  The investigation also revealed that Claxton owned and maintained a stash house in Baltimore, where the DTO stored and processed heroin and crack cocaine.

On April 10, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at the stash house and recovered over 200 grams of crack cocaine, which Claxton admitted that he intended to distribute.  Claxton agreed that over the course of the conspiracy he distributed over 280 grams of crack cocaine.

Claxton and the government have agreed that 150 months in prison is the appropriate sentence in this case.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has scheduled sentencing for February 18, 2021, at 3:30 p.m.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the FBI, the ATF, and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation and thanked the Anne Arundel County Police Department for its assistance.  Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew DellaBetta and Michael Goldsticker, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.