A Gaithersburg man was sentenced to four years in prison Monday for selling heroin as part of a larger distribution conspiracy in which three others have been convicted.
Federal prosecutors said Nathaniel Wright Jr., 58, of Gaithersburg, previously had admitted to selling a total of 22 grams of heroin to confidential police sources and that he was responsible for distributing between 400 and 700 grams of heroin from June 2013 until April 2015. Wright was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
Prosecutors said Wright primarily sold the drug to heroin addicts who most often purchased between one-half to two grams from him per week in Gaithersburg, Rockville and Germantown, according to the statement of facts in the case. On June 14, 2013, prosecutors said Wright sold a person a gram of heroin at Wright’s Gaithersburg home for $100 and later that night the person died from alcohol and narcotic intoxication.
Montgomery County police arrested Wright in April 2015 after an investigation that lasted from Nov. 2014 to March 2015, according to court documents.
Ronald Bryant, 46, of Montgomery Village, Carlos Brandon Peoples, 26, of Washington, D.C., and Carlisle Sampson Pipkin, 32, of Hanover, have also been convicted for their roles in the heroin distribution ring. Bryant has been sentenced to 46 months in prison while Peoples and Pipkin are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 8.
Court documents state police tracked Wright to 16th Street in Silver Spring where they observed him meet with Peoples, who supplied Wright with additional heroin, in a shopping center parking lot.
