Notorious drug dealer gets 13 years for peddling cocaine, witness tampering
TRENTON >> A career local drug peddler is going from federal prison to state prison.
Mawulda “Sin” Pinkston, 47, of Trenton, is currently incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia and will soon be transferred to a New Jersey Department of Corrections facility.
That’s because Pinkston resumed his drug-dealing activities after serving prior time in federal prison. He pleaded guilty last summer to firstdegree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and third-degree witness tampering and was later sentenced to 13 years of state incarceration, records show.
Pinkston has long engaged in dope dealing. He is the brother of convicted drug dealer Kenyatta Pinkston, 45, a city man re-arrested last year on allegations he possessed 3.9 pounds of marijuana.
More than 15 years ago, the Pinkston siblings were both convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and seven counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute either powder cocaine or crack cocaine, all in connection with a drug distribution business they operated in Trenton, according to federal court documents.
“The Pinkstons were identified as the regular suppliers of marijuana, cocaine, and ecstacy for the government cooperator, a local drug dealer,” a federal appellate court noted in 2007. “The charges stemmed from a total of seven controlled drug transactions — four of crack cocaine and three of powder cocaine — by one or both of the Pinkstons during a three-week period.
The total amount of drugs involved in the transactions was 126.9 grams of crack cocaine and 176.3 grams of powder cocaine.”
Convicted in a bench trial at U.S. District Court, a federal judge sentenced Kenyatta Pinkston to 212 months of imprisonment and Mawulda Pinkston to 190 months of imprisonment, records show. An appellate court panel upheld that sentence in 2007.
After getting released from federal prison, Mawulda Pinkston returned to Trenton and resumed his drug-dealing ways on June 18, 2015, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in the case Aug. 9, 2019.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw punished Mawulda Pinkston on Jan. 10, sentencing him to 10 years of state imprisonment for first-degree drug distribution and three years of additional incarceration for thirddegree witness tampering by contacting the confidential informant involved in his drug case and attempting to dissuade the informant from testifying.
The consecutive sentence equates to 13 years behind bars and must be served concurrent to his federal sentence, which is related to his prior endeavors of guilt.
Warshaw also ordered the elder Pinkston brother to pay more than $3,200 in fees and penalties, including a $3,000 mandatory Drug Enforcement and Demand Reduction sanction. The conviction further resulted in Mawulda Pinkston having his driver’s license suspended for six months from
Jan. 10 to July 10, according to the judgment of conviction.
Finally, the Superior Court judge ordered the defendant to provide a DNA sample and ordered him to pay the costs for testing of the sample provided.
“To be fair and in the interests of justice,” Warshaw said in his judgment of conviction, “the Court will impose the recommended sentence in accordance with the plea agreement.”
Mawulda Pinkston is currently incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, where he is scheduled to be released Feb. 18 and transferred to a state prison in New Jersey, records show.
The state Attorney General’s Office prosecuted Mawulda Pinkston in the latest drug case.