By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A 25-year-old Maryland drug dealer, who was known to wear a radio frequency device to detect undercover law enforcement with recording devices, was sentenced in Baltimore on Monday to 24 years and 4 months in prison for witness tampering in the death of a fellow drug dealer.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Steven Leroy Stone, age 25, of Frederick, Md., on charges of conspiracy to commit witness tampering and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and a crime of violence resulting in death, in connection with the murder of David Lee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The plea agreement said that Stone in 2004 and 2005 worked with Lee and others to distribute cocaine, marijuana and ectasy in the Frederick, Md. area. The gang became known as “B-6”, which stood for “the bottom of Sixth Street”, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
In 2005, Stone and others started to suspect that Lee was snitching on them and they learned that he had received subpoenas to testify before a grand jury.
“In June or July 2005, Stone, concerned that Lee was going to testify against him, offered several people money to kill Lee,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release. “In addition, Stone developed a plan to burn down Lee’s home, and purchased gasoline for use in doing that. However, the plan fell through while Stone and others were en route to Lee’s home.”
On the afternoon of July 7, 2005, Stone decided that Lee should be killed while Stone was out of town. According to the plea agreement, on that evening the killers arranged for Lee to get into a car to carry out the murder.
“After Steven Stone returned from New York on the afternoon of July 8th, he had several conversations with individuals who had information about the murder,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. ” Stone suggested stories for them to tell law enforcement officers if questioned, and threatened them if they cooperated against him.
Others, including Stone’s father, have been sentenced in the case.
