Drug dealer receives 10-year sentence
Ricardo McKendrick Sr., arrested last year in one of the biggest cocaine busts in city history, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison, substantially less jail time than the maximum life term he faced at the time of his arrest.
Ricardo McKendrick Sr., arrested last year in one of the biggest cocaine busts in city history, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison, substantially less jail time than the maximum life term he faced at the time of his arrest.
The sentence, recommended by federal prosecutors, was imposed during an hourlong hearing before U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter.
McKendrick, 57, apologized to his family and told Pratter that he had used "bad judgment" in getting involved in the drug trade.
The sentence was part of a plea agreement worked out with the U.S. Attorney's Office after McKendrick and his son, Ricardo Jr., 36, were arrested April 2, 2008.
Both men pleaded guilty to drug-dealing charges in December. The younger McKendrick has agreed to cooperate with authorities. He has not yet been sentenced.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Tsao said during yesterday's hearing that the sentence imposed on the elder McKendrick, which was about half the time recommended in federal sentencing guidelines for his charge, was an attempt to balance various issues in the case, including McKendrick's age and his "lesser role" in the drug operation.
After the hearing, Tsao said the son's agreement to become a cooperating witness had nothing to do with the deal given his father.
The McKendricks were arrested after investigators found more than 600 pounds of cocaine valued at more then $28 million in the father's Grays Ferry rowhouse. Authorities also seized more than $1 million in cash from the son.
The arrests, by members of an FBI-Philadelphia police drug task force, stemmed from an informant's tip that a major shipment of cocaine was due at the house.
In a sentencing memo filed last week, Tsao said the McKendricks were part of a "major cocaine distribution network" and called the amount of cocaine seized "staggering."
He underscored that point by telling the judge yesterday that the seizure had caused a temporary "drought" in the city's cocaine market.
Ricardo McKendrick Jr. made his debut as a government witness last month in the federal trial of Malik Snell, a suspected rogue Philadelphia cop.
Among other things, Snell was charged with stealing $40,000 from McKendrick during a bogus police stop in December 2007.
The trial ended with a hung jury on four counts, including the alleged McKendrick robbery. Snell was found not guilty on two other counts. He is expected to be retried this year.
When the younger McKendrick was arrested, police found $54,971 in the car he was driving. A search of the trunk of a second car, a Mercedes he had parked in the garage of his Woodstown home, turned up $982,144.
As part of his cooperation agreement, he is believed to be providing authorities with information about his cocaine suppliers and major Philadelphia drug dealers to whom he sold.
From the stand in the Snell trial, he said he hoped his cooperation would result in a sentence substantially less than the maximum life in prison he faced.
