A La Marque man received a ten-year prison sentence for his role in a local crack distribution ring.
Ronnie LaShawn Allen, 45, will spend 120 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, as announced by U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Allen pleaded guilty on February 24, 2022, sealing his fate in a justice system often grappling with the balance between punishment and rehabilitation for drug offenses.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown also ruled that Allen’s prison term would be followed by five years of supervised release.
Responsible for distributing over two kilograms of crack cocaine, Allen’s activities were confined to the La Marque and Texas City areas from February 2017 to February 2019.
Allen’s sentence concludes an investigation led by the FBI’s Safe Streets and Violent Crimes Task Force, with support from the La Marque Police Department. Currently, Allen awaits transfer to an undisclosed U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to begin serving his sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Cusick prosecuted the case from investigation to sentencing.