Source: United States Department of Justice News
MOBILE, AL –Two members of Darrin Southall’s drug trafficking organization were sentenced in federal court on May 13, 2022, making a total of six defendants sentenced thus far. Joining Southall, Eric Alonzo Windham, Terrance Santez Malik Watkins and Willie Demarcus Oliver were Shamartess Monique Whitsett, 26, and Randale Demorris Hinton, 40, both of Mobile. Whitsett and Hinton entered guilty pleas to the charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in September of 2021.
According to court documents, Southall ran a continuing criminal enterprise involving the distribution of massive amounts of controlled substances in the Mobile, Alabama, area, and the laundering of drug proceeds through bank accounts and nominees. Court documents identified Whitsett as a courier recruited by Southall to handle and transport drug money in exchange for deliveries of cocaine and heroin. Hinton, Southall’s cousin, was a large-scale cocaine distributor who also manufactured and distributed crack cocaine. According to evidence adduced at Hinton’s sentencing hearing, Hinton also carried firearms to defend members of the organization and the drugs and drug proceeds generated through drug sales.
United States District Court Judge Kristi Dubose imposed a sentence of 135 months imprisonment in Hinton’s case. The judge imposed a sentence of 15 months in Whitsett’s case, citing her lesser role in the offense and the relatively short time frame of her participation in the massive conspircy. The judge further ordered that each defendant would also serve five years on supervised release following their imprisonment. As conditions of their supervision, each defendant will also undergo testing and treatment for drug and/or alcohol abuse, and they will be subject to a search of their persons and premises upon reasonable suspicion. No fine was imposed but the judge ordered that each defendant pay $100 in special assessments. Each defendant’s interest in a long list of seized property was ordered forfeited to the United States.
The case was investigated by the Mobile Police Department, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Saraland Police Department, the St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gloria Bedwell prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.