Pushing coke and crack in, and around, Atlantic City earns a pair of south Jersey men hefty prison time.

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In Camden today, John Wellman, 41, of Atlantic City, was sentenced to 10 years, 10 months in prison, and Ronald Douglas Byrd, 51, of Pleasantville was ordered to serve eight years, for their guilty pleas to federal charges, according to the office of Acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick. They are also to serve five years of parole monitoring after release.

The pair pleaded guilty to the first count of an indictment charging them with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, stemming from an investigaiton that spanned February 2012 through mid-December 2014 and resulted in 12 arrests. The Wellman and Byrd sentences bring the number convicted to 11. One defendant remains a fugitive from justice.

Investigators alleged that Byrd disseminated more than a kilogram of crack, that Wellman distributed more than 280 grams of the drug, and that the suspects used Byrd's house and another house in Pleassantville and one in Absecon to store and package it

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Diana Vondra Carrig and Howard Weinder conducted the government's case. Byrd was represented by Philadelphia attorney Michael Huff. Wellman's defense was prepared by attorney John F. Renner of Marlton.

Investigations were conducted by agents of the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration in Newark, Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, police in Atlantic City, Northfield, Ventnor and Millville, New Jersey State Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigraiton and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

Source: New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office

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