Harford County Man Convicted For Role In Large Cocaine Distribution Ring

HAVRE DE GRACE - On Monday, a Harford County man was sentenced to 20 years in Federal Prison for his role in a large drug distribution ring.

44-year-old Che Jaron Durbin of Aberdeen was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine in connection with his participation in a drug trafficking organization distributing cocaine and crack cocaine in Harford County, Maryland.

The conviction is a result of a year-long investigation involving Havre de Grace, Harford County, Bel Air, and other police departments. 

According to evidence presented at the eight-day trial, in May 2019, members of the Harford County Drug Task Force started investigating Durbin, who was suspected of drug trafficking in the Harford County area.

According to witnesses at the trial, on May 17, 2019, a U.S. Postal Inspector notified detectives that a suspicious package was en route to Durbin’s mother’s apartment in Aberdeen, Maryland.

Detectives staged a stakeout to track the suspicious package. Agents watched as a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier delivered the parcel to Durbin, who took it into the apartment. A short time later, a woman, later identified as co-defendant Jameka Cara Thompson, left the apartment with the parcel and drove to her home. Officers detained Thompson and obtained a search warrant for her vehicle. The parcel was found to contain one kilogram of compressed cocaine

Officers continued to observe Durbin’s actions, and on January 22, 2020, police learned from U.S. Postal Inspectors that Durbin sent a parcel from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Tucson, Arizona. A K9 sniffer alerted police to the package, and a search warrant was obtained. The parcel contained $82,300 in cash inside a wireless headphones box.

Witnesses and police provided testimony at the trial, which revealed the large scale of Durbin’s drug network. Additionally, intercepted communications between Durbin and co-defendant Terell Walton regarding the price and amount of drugs being transported.

According to court documents, the drug ring worked like this:

in May 2020, law enforcement surveilled Durbin meeting with a supplier at a Tucson, Arizona hotel. Soon after the meeting, Durbin picked Thompson up at the Tucson Airport and drove her back to his hotel room.

Durbin flew back to Maryland the next day, and Thompson ultimately obtained a bulk supply of cocaine from the supplier on Durbin’s behalf.

Thompson then drove cross-country from Arizona to Harford County, where she was arrested on May 12, 2020. When she was arrested, law enforcement found 1.4 kilograms of cocaine in her vehicle. Durbin was subsequently arrested in connection to the conspiracy.

According to trial testimony, over the course of the conspiracy, Thompson made at least eight similar trips on Durbin’s behalf, transporting almost 40 kilograms of cocaine to Maryland for Durbin to distribute.

On top of Durbin’s 20-year sentence, the following individuals have been convicted for their roles in the plot.

• Terrell Darnell Walton, age 36, of Delaware, was convicted at trial for the drug conspiracy and sentenced on September 23, 2022, to 13 years in federal prison.

• Jameka Cara Thompson, age 42, of Abingdon, Maryland, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison.

• Gerrick Devlon Jackson, age 40 of Havre de Grace, Maryland, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison.

• Jack Anderson IV, age 46, of Tucson, Arizona, was sentenced to 126 months in federal prison in December 2021.

• Michael Ronnell Wells, age 38, of Forest Hill, Maryland, was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison