Hampton man gets 30 years for leading drug ring
He admitted to hiding ‘traps’ in cars, shooting 2 men
The former owner of a Hampton fitness center was sentenced Thursday to 30 years behind bars for orchestrating a Peninsula drug ring over four years.
Alex Jermaine Burnett, 39 — who ran 9Round Gym in Peninsula Town Center — led the conspiracy that distributed large amounts of cocaine, heroin and other drugs throughout Hampton Roads between 2013 and 2017.
He pleaded guilty in January to running “a continuing criminal enterprise.”
Thirteen people faced charges in the case, including drug dealing and money laundering. Prosecutors said many of the drug sales occurred at the fitness center itself.
It’s the same investigation that led to the arrest of DeAngelo Freeman, a thenHampton police detective who was accused of giving Burnett the name of a confidential informant who was cooperating with the FBI.
In late 2017, prosecutors said, the FBI learned that “a member of law enforcement” was giving key information about the case to “Burnett and his co-conspirators,” and they soon realized it was Freeman.
Federal authorities moved the informant out of the region for his safety, prosecutors said, adding that the investigation was “prematurely ended” as a result of the man’s identity being revealed.
Freeman pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy late last year. Though the charge pertaining to the revelation of the informant’s name was dismissed as part of the plea agreement, Freeman admitted as part of the agreement that he had done so.
Freeman, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced July 31.
Burnett pleaded guilty to the criminal enterprise charge earlier this year, and many other felony counts were dismissed as part of his plea bargain.
He admitted in court papers that he and co-conspirators hid drugs in certain electronic “traps” in cars — as well as in the bases of fish aquariums. Burnett also admitted to shooting at two men in a Cadillac on Hampton’s Mercury Boulevard in 2014 in retaliation for failing to pay a drug debt.
Though the criminal enterprise charge carried a punishment range of 20 years to life, federal prosecutors filed for an “enhancement” in January — based on Burnett’s prior federal drug dealing convictions. That raised the minimum sentence to 30 years.
Both sides asked U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis to impose that sentence Thursday, and the judge agreed. Burnett’s lawyer, David M. Good, declined to comment Friday.