Source: Office of United States Attorneys
CLEVELAND – A Jamaican national who intended to distribute controlled substances that were shipped from California to Ohio through a global logistics company, and was residing in the U.S. illegally, has been sentenced to prison.
O’Shane Christopher Smith, 35, a citizen of Jamaica, was sentenced to 100 months (more than eight years) in prison by U.S. District Judge John R. Adams after pleading guilty to drug conspiracies, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and illegal reentry following deportation. As a term of his supervised release after imprisonment, Smith was also ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for deportation as provided by law.
According to court records, on Jan. 20, 2023, federal investigators intercepted a suspicious package that was mailed from a United Parcel Service (UPS) store in Inglewood, California. After obtaining a search warrant, investigators found 5,323 grams (approximately 11 pounds) of methamphetamine packed inside the parcel. Agents proceeded to conduct a controlled delivery to the address as listed. After the package was delivered to a home in Cleveland, a person identified as Smith, arrived at the address, retrieved the UPS parcel and departed in a Jeep vehicle. Shortly, thereafter, Ohio Highway State Patrol officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle Smith was driving, at which time he accelerated in an attempt to elude them. Smith then crashed the Jeep into a small tree, quickly fled the vehicle, and began to run through neighborhood yards. He was apprehended by officers after a short foot chase. The defendant later admitted that a man had offered him $1,000, with $500 being paid initially and $500 later, to retrieve and deliver the UPS parcel with the drugs to him. Smith also admitted to illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico near San Diego, California, the previous year without the consent of the U.S. Attorney General or the Secretary for Homeland Security for readmission. The defendant was previously removed from the United States for illegal reentry in March 2021.
The case was investigated by the DEA Detroit Division’s Cleveland Field Office, Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Border Patrol-Sandusky Bay Station, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James P. Lewis and Elizabeth Crook for the Northern District of Ohio.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.