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WARREN -- Two Warren men have pleaded guilty to federal charges linked to their roles in a cocaine-dealing operation in the city.
Two other men indicted in the same case will be going to federal court in Akron within the next seven days to answer charges about their roles.
Wilbert R. Booker Jr., 37, of Woodbine Avenue SE, pleaded guilty this month to charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Booker is scheduled to be sentenced by federal Judge John R. Adams at 11 a.m. April 28 via video conference with the Akron federal courtroom. Adams denied a motion Thursday to release Booker from federal custody.
One of Booker's co-defendants, Marvin G. Brown Jr., 64, also of Warren, pleaded guilty to charges of distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Brown, who is free after posting $20,000 bond, will be sentenced by Adams at 1 p.m. April 27.
William F. Jarrette, 27, Warren, is the third defendant and will have a 2 p.m. hearing Wednesday before Adams. He is charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine. According to an affidavit, Jarrette was present when agents raided a Brier Street home on July 2, 2019. During the search, agents and Warren police officers seized cocaine from a safe found in a bedroom and a small plastic bag of cocaine that was found in the bathroom.
A fourth defendant is Gregory P. Emerson, 38, also of Warren. He is scheduled for a 2 p.m. hearing Jan. 25 before Adams, court records show. A DEA affidavit accuses Emerson of being involved with both Brown and Booker in the June 2019 cocaine buys in Warren.
DRUG BUYS
According to a federal affidavit prepared by an agent working with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration task force, Booker was linked to cocaine purchases that occurred during the week of June 16, 2019. Another affidavit states that during the week of June 9, 2019, an informant with the DEA called Brown to order cocaine valued at more than $3,000.
After placing the order, the informant went to a Wick Street SE, Warren, address to buy the narcotics off of Brown, the affidavit stated.
Investigators linked Booker's role through a series of cellphone calls between Booker and Brown and surveillance of Brown from his Woodbine Avenue home to the home in the 2200 block of Brier Street, where a DEA informant made cocaine purchases valued in excess of $9,000. Investigators believe that Booker delivered the cocaine purchased by the informant from Brown.
An affidavit also accused Booker of storing cocaine at his Woodbine Avenue home.
On July 2, 2019, the DEA, with the assistance of the Warren Police Department's Tactical Entry Team, searched Booker's home where they found two loaded firearms -- 9mm pistol and AK-47 type semiautomatic rifle -- near his bed.
A search of the kitchen netted a digital scale and various plastic wrap and bagging material typically used to hold the drug, the affidavit states. There was also a plastic bag containing a white powdery substance that was located in the basement concealed within the ceiling, the document states.
A search of a city-issued garbage tote in the rear of the Woodbine home revealed more of the substances that later tested to contain cocaine hydrocholoride, which normally is used as a cutting agent in cocaine processing. A cutting agent is a substance that increases the weight of a drug and also dilutes it.
Also found in the Brier Street search were four digital scales, U.S. currency, a loaded Glock Model 33 .357 caliber pistol, a M&E Vanguard double barrel shotgun, a loaded Masterpiece Arms 9 millimeter Case 7 pistol, an ITM Arms MK99 7.62 caliber rifle loaded with a drum style magazine and ammunition, and a Mossberg Maverick 12-gauge shotgun.
The case against the four culminated with indictments being filed on Oct. 9, 2020, the court records show.