NEWS RELEASE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
John L. Brownlee United States Attorney Brian McGinn Public Affairs Specialist |
BB&T Building 310 1st Street, S.W., Room 906 Roanoke, Virginia 24011 (540) 857-2974 FAX (540) 857-2179 |
March 4, 2008
INMATE SENTENCED TO 262 MONTHS FOR SCHEME
TO INTRODUCE HEROIN INTO UNITED STATES PENITENTIARY, LEE COUNTY
United States Attorney John L. Brownlee announced today that Yayah Talib, age 39, was sentenced by Chief Judge James P. Jones in United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon, to serve 262 months imprisonment for his role in a scheme to introduce heroin into the United States Penitentiary, Lee Count.
“Talib has proven, time and again, that he is incapable of following federal law, even while incarcerated,” U.S. Attorney John L. Brownlee said today. “This sentence guarantees that Talib will spend at least the next 20 years in federal prison.”
Talib and a co-defendant, Jose Santiago, were convicted by a jury on November 8, 2007, after a two-day trial in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. They were convicted of conspiracy to posses with the intent to distribute heroin and conspiracy to introduce contraband into a federal prison.
Both Talib and Santiago are currently serving sentences for other offenses at USP-Lee and were inmates at the penitentiary at the time of the offense. The charges arose after monitored phone calls throughout August 2006 led prison officials to believe that Talib, Jose Santiago, and a third inmate were making arrangements to have Talib’s girlfriend, Catherine Flading, smuggle heroin into the prison where they could sell it for a substantial profit.
On August, 31, 2006, agents from the United States Postal Inspection Service together with officers of the Kingsport, Tennessee Police Department intercepted a package at a Kingsport, Tennessee post office. It was addressed to Flading and was found to contain a stuffed animal with heroin hidden inside.
Flading had previously been convicted of possession of heroin in Sullivan County, Tennessee and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin in United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon. She served approximately seven months in jail before being sentenced to a term of probation.
In addition to the 262 month term of incarceration, Talib was ordered to pay a $450 fine. Jose Santiago’s sentencing is to be scheduled for a date later this month.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the United States Penitentiary, Lee County, Special Investigate Services; the Kingsport, Tennessee Police Department; the United States Postal Inspection Service; and the Bristol, Virginia Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer R. Bockhorst and Special Assistant United States Attorney Debbie Stevens prosecuted the case.