Sex ring leaders face time in prison
Pair who ran gang in Brooklyn Park to serve 20-plus years
The leaders of a Brooklyn Park gang that sold drugs and ran a prostitution ring out of a hotel were sentenced to 50 years in prison, with some of that time suspended, for gang-related activity including organizing and financing a criminal organization, according to court documents.
David Tico Brown, 45, pleaded guilty in August to organizing, supervising or financing a gang, distributing and possessing drugs and conspiring to take or cause another person to be taken to a place for prostitution, according to court records.
Brown’s second-in-command, Michael Copeland, 42, also pleaded guilty in August to participating in a criminal gang, distributing drugs, possessing cocaine and conspiring to take or cause another person to be taken to a place for prostitution.
Judge Pamela Alban sentenced Brown to 50 years in prison, suspending all but 28 years. She also sentenced Copeland to 50 years in prison, suspending all but 24 years.
The two are among at least 15 people indicted in Anne Arundel County in 2020 on conspiracy and gang participation charges for their alleged roles in a criminal enterprise that dealt various drugs and trafficked women out of Brooklyn Park hotels since at least December 2019, according to the indictment.
Anne Arundel County police wiretapped the gang during an eight-month investigation. Detectives learned that Brown and other members were “heavily involved in a drug and sex trafficking organization” with Brown acting as the leader, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
The gang set up camp for extended periods at the Comfort Inn and Suites on Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard, where prosecutors say it built close ties with staff members who would tip off the gang’s leader when they suspected law enforcement or rival gang members were on the property.
Prosecutors say Copeland and Brown forced women to meet with “dates” and monitored how many they went on — arranging their hotel rooms and travel, monitoring their advertisements and controlling the women’s access to their money. Prosecutors wrote that Copeland and Brown gave the women drugs before or after the dates.
Brown was initially charged with 31 offenses, including organizing, supervising and financing a gang, serving as a drug kingpin, dispensing large amounts of drugs and forcing sex trafficking, court records show. Copeland was charged with 23 counts including participating in a criminal gang, being a drug kingpin, distributing large amounts of drugs, forcing sex trafficking, according to online court records.
The two men ultimately pleaded guilty to four charges.
“It was a very difficult case. I’m glad we were able to resolve it,” Stephen R. Tully, Brown’s attorney, said Wednesday.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General prosecuted the case and argued Brown encouraged the victims of sex trafficking to sell illegal narcotics to the individuals paying for sexual acts, and “paid” the sex trafficking victims by giving them drugs.
Though the gang primarily operated out of hotels in Brooklyn Park, members traveled around northern and western Anne Arundel County and parts of Baltimore and Baltimore County — mostly to distribute or buy drugs including heroin and fentanyl, cocaine, MDMA, methamphetamine, oxycodone and marijuana, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors wrote that the gang’s crimes spanned at least from the beginning of December 2019 through August 2020. Brown, of Brooklyn Park, led the gang and built a power structure with few high-ranking members, according to the indictment. He insulated himself and rarely left his room at whichever hotel the gang was working out of, the indictment stated.
Copeland, of Glen Burnie, would often leave the hotels to stock up on drugs from suppliers and sometimes deal drugs himself, according to the indictment. After Copeland acquired a large load of drugs, prosecutors wrote that he often went to his or Brown’s hotel room to cook or repackage the drugs.
Lower-ranking members brought Brown food and groceries. Those members were required to serve drugs to new customers, forcing them to take some in front of them to prove they weren’t law enforcement, prosecutors wrote. Brown, they wrote, also surrounded himself with members inside and outside of the hotel to deflect culpability in case they were pulled over or searched.
Other members of the organization who are part of the indictment include:
Antoine Crockett, 40, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty in September to participating a criminal organization and drug possession with the intent to distribute. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 22.
Vernon Harris, 51, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute narcotics. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
Laron Matthews, 46, of Baltimore, is awaiting a weeklong jury trial scheduled to start Dec. 8. He is charged with participating in a criminal organization and 12 other drug-related offenses.