Oct 28, 2005  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

Gay D.C. resident Wyatt Wood was sentenced to 15 years in jail on Oct. 18 on federal drug trafficking charges following a four-year investigation that led to the prosecution of more than 30 “retail” dealers to whom Wood supplied crystal methamphetamine and other drugs, according to a statement by the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The 30 or more people prosecuted in the crackdown bought the drugs from Wood through an informal “wholesale” network that Wood created to help him sell the drugs on a retail basis to a mostly gay clientele that patronized gay bars and nightclubs in the District, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Dee Carpenter, the lead prosecutor in the case.

“The gay part of this had nothing to do with our interest in pursuing this investigation,” Carpenter said. “When we have evidence in drug dealing, we just follow the evidence to wherever it takes us.”

Narcotics investigators with the D.C. and Arlington police departments and agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who worked jointly on the investigation, named the probe “Operation Tina Town.” Tina is a common nickname for crystal meth.

The operation was part of a larger, nationwide crackdown on crystal meth called “Operation Wildfire,” that involved more than 200 U.S. cities and resulted in the arrest of 427 people involved in illegal activities associated with methamphetamine throughout the country, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Court records show that Wood pleaded guilty to series of drug trafficking charges in September 2003, more than two years before United States District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan sentenced him last week.

The court records show that Wood and his attorney, Thomas Abbenante, signed a 10-page agreement, dated Sept. 10, 2003, in which Wood initially promised to cooperate in the government’s investigation into D.C.-area drug operations. But subsequent court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office state that Wood broke the agreement shortly after signing it and provided no significant help in the probe.

Wood’s attorney, Thomas Abbenante, said he was disappointed in the length of the sentence imposed by the judge.

“This case is a tragedy for Mr. Wood and his family,” Abbernante said. “I had hoped that the judge would have accepted my recommendation for a sentence of 125 months, which comes to 10 years.”

Abbernante said he never comments on questions of witness cooperation in criminal cases.

A sentencing document filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office on Oct. 17 states that Wood was released on his own recognizance in September 2003 upon agreeing to a plea bargain arrangement. The document says he was arrested on a bench warrant on Nov. 22, 2004, after he was found in possession of crystal meth and other drugs — all of which violated the terms of his release and the agreement. The document says the bench warrant was issued after Wood failed to show up for a Nov. 16, 2004, pre-sentencing hearing. He has been held in custody since the time of his November arrest.

The same document says Wood violated another part of his release and plea agreements when he sold his house on the 1200 block of Florida Ave., NW. In the agreement, Wood promised not to interfere with the government’s decision to seize the house under federal narcotics statutes.

At least two suspects in the probe who died under suspicious circumstances are being investigated as possible homicides, Carpenter said. Carpenter said a third person died after falling from the roof of his apartment building on 16th Street, NW, and a fourth is believed to have died from a drug overdose. Carpenter said Wood is not a suspect in any of these cases.

Records sealed, then unsealed

The sensitive nature of the investigation prompted the U.S. Attorney’s office to request and receive permission by the court to seal all records of the Wood investigation beginning in September 2003, three months after Wood’s initial arrest in June 2003.

In a development that surprised prosecutors and police, Judge Hogan unsealed the case during Wood’s Oct. 18, 2005, sentencing hearing.

Channing Phillips, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said Hogan told those attending the hearing that he unsealed the case because it was important for the public to learn about the seriousness of crystal meth use in the D.C. metropolitan area.

In recent years, gay community organizations have sponsored forums and educational campaigns on the dangers of crystal meth use and its impact on gay men, especially gay men who are part of the “club scene.” Experts say crystal meth is highly addictive and causes skin lesions and ...