DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
District of Maryland

For Immediate Release

Friday, December 5, 2014
Rod J. Rosenstein
, United States Attorney
Contact: Vickie E. LeDuc

Member of Cherry Hill Group "UDH" Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin Crack Cocaine

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III sentenced William Simmons, a/k/a “Big Chew,” age 32, of Baltimore, today to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possesses with the intent to distribute heroin and crack cocaine. 

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William P. McMullan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Commissioner Anthony W. Batts of the Baltimore Police Department; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.

According to his plea agreement, from 2002 through 2013, Simmons distributed crack cocaine and heroin in the Cherry Hill area of Baltimore.  Simmons is a member of the UDH organization, which operates in the area of Cherry Hill known as “Up the Hill” or “Up da Hill.”  UDH members and associates committed various crimes to include distribution of controlled dangerous substances, such as crack cocaine, heroin, cocaine and oxycodone. UDH members and associates used violence and intimidation to protect themselves, the organization, and their control of the drug trade in part of Cherry Hill.

For several years Simmons assisted a fellow UDH member, helping him to run drug distribution shops in the UDH area of Cherry Hill.  On November 22, 2013, after a confidential informant purchased heroin from Simmons, Simmons and another UDH member were stopped in a vehicle in Anne Arundel County.  The vehicle was searched and officers recovered 59 gel caps of heroin, weighing approximately 17.06 grams and a bag of cocaine, weighing approximately 29.68 grams.  Throughout the course of Simmons’s involvement in the UDH drug conspiracy, the conspirators distributed between 3 and 10 kilograms of heroin and between 840 grams and 2.8 kilograms of crack cocaine. 

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the ATF, Baltimore Police Department, and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and thanked the FBI, Baltimore County Police Department, Anne Arundel County Police Department, and Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office for their assistance. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Andrea L. Smith and Seema Mittal, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.

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Baltimore Field Division