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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Friday, October 30, 2009
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
A Martinsville man faces at least 25 years in federal prison after he was convicted Wednesday of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and other charges.
A jury in U.S. District Court in Danville deliberated for an hour at the end of a three-day trial before finding Tsaikuwn Aldago Hairston, 30, guilty of four charges, court records show.
Hairston was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a mixture containing more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and more than 5 kilos of cocaine powder; possessing a firearm in relation to the drug crime; perjury; and committing perjury while on federal bond, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Bassford, who prosecuted the case, and court records.
Bassford called 16 witnesses for the government, including nine he described as “people (Hairston allegedly) supplied, his partners, folks like that.”
According to the evidence, Bassford said, Hairston was given 100 kilos of cocaine powder by an Eden, N.C., supplier. One kilo of cocaine could be sold for $100,000 on the streets, Bassford said, so the entire amount translates to “millions of dollars worth of cocaine,” he said.
Hairston operated an auto body shop on U.S. 58 in Henry County that was his “base of operations,” according to Bassford.
Investigators are not sure when the crime began, but it “was going strong in ’03, ’04 and ’05,” Bassford said, and it continued through late 2006.
The perjury conviction was related to statements Hairston made on tax forms, Bassford said. At the time those statements were made, Hairston was on bond related to a firearms charge in the state’s Eastern District, the prosecutor said.
Hairston faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years but could serve more time, depending on how the judge rules during Hairston’s sentencing hearing in January, according to Bassford.
Hairston, who had been free on bond, now is in custody, probably in Danville, Bassford said.
Defense attorney Mark T. Williams did not call any witnesses during the trial, court records show.
Judge Jackson L. Kiser of Martinsville presided. |
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