SOUTH BEND — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Indiana, Northern), published as received.

SOUTH BEND – Terron Taylor, 23 years old, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Jon E DeGuilio after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin, announced U. S. Attorney Kirsch.

Taylor was sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Kirsch said, “Drug dealers target areas of cities and towns for drug distribution.  We are targeting them.  As we catch them, we will seek lengthy penalties for spreading poison on our streets.  This case is a prime example of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working together to combat the drug epidemic.”

According to documents in the case, from March 2017 up to and including October 2017, Taylor conspired with a group of other dealers to distribute over 1 kilogram of heroin to drug customers on the streets of South Bend.  Customers would call a drug phone and order heroin.  Whichever dealer had the phone at the time would arrange to meet with the customer and complete the heroin sale.  The business model was efficient: transactions were quick and without hassle.  All of the heroin was pre-packaged in ½ gram quantities.  The price remained uniform regardless of which dealer showed up to sell.  Investigators conducted numerous controlled purchases by calling the drug phone and ordering heroin.  Investigators met with and identified different dealers, most of which were from Chicago.  On four occasions in September 2017, Taylor was involved in selling heroin to the investigators.  Taylor has a lengthy criminal history that qualifies him as a career offender under the guidelines.    

This case was investigated by the ATF and DEA with assistance from several local law enforcement agencies including the Elkhart Police Department, Indiana State Police, the St. Joseph County Drug Investigations Unit and the St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.    This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joel R. Gabrielse and Molly E. Donnelly.

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