The United State Attorney’s Office sent out a press release that a leader of drug trafficking organization was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison that has ties to a Middle River man.
The United State Attorney’s Office revealed that two U.S. Postal Service (USPS) letter carriers, Zakiyya Holloman, 35, of Middle River, and Maurice Vaughn, age 34, of Washington, D.C. agreed to divert U.S. Priority Mail parcels, containing cocaine, sent to addresses on their routes, to Russell Stanley; who today was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison; a member of the Stanley DTO in exchange for money.
Holloman was a mail carrier in Prince George’s County.
Holloman serviced a route in Bowie from April 2017 to October 2019, and Vaughn serviced a route in Bowie from July 2018 to October 2019.
As USPS letter carriers, the U.S. Attorney’s office said that Vaughn and Holloman were public officials and were expected, among other things, to deliver each package to the addressee at the proper address and to keep an accurate record of their deliveries.
According to the release, Holloman began diverting packages containing cocaine to Stanley in approximately April 2018, after being introduced to Stanley by a mutual acquaintance.
Holloman received $500 from Stanley for each parcel diverted.
The release also stated that Hollman diverted cocaine parcels on at least six occasions, receiving a total of at least $3,000 from Stanley.
In an effort to conceal the scheme, Holloman scanned the parcels as delivered to the addressees, despite delivering those parcels to Stanley.
Maurice Vaughn and Zakiyya Holloman, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and to bribery.
They face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge and a maximum of 15 years in federal prison for bribery.
Scheduled sentencing dates have not been set for Holloman or Vaughn.
