Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that FRANK JENKINS, 23, pled guilty today before the Honorable John G. Koeltl to shooting and killing Rashaun Nicholson on or about December 28, 2014, in furtherance of a narcotics distribution conspiracy.  The charges to which JENKINS pled guilty are set forth in a seven-count superseding indictment (the “Indictment”), which was filed in December 2015.

 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said:  “Frank Jenkins not only supplied a large part of the New York City-to-Bennington pipeline of crack and heroin, but as part of that drug business, he shot and killed a man in lower Manhattan, just a few blocks from the Manhattan federal courthouse.  Today, in that courthouse, Jenkins pled guilty to his crimes and faces a lengthy prison sentence.”

 

As alleged in the Superseding Indictment and in other documents previously filed in Manhattan federal court and in statements made during court proceedings:

 

On December 28, 2014, in connection with a narcotics trafficking offense, FRANK JENKINS shot and killed Rashaun Nicholson in the vicinity of 78 Catherine Street, New York, New York.  The narcotics trafficking conspiracy in which JENKINS was a participant involved the sale of controlled substances, including crack cocaine and heroin, in Vermont and elsewhere. Specifically, between 2014 and 2015, JENKINS, together with other members of the conspiracy, obtained crack and heroin from locations in New York City, including Manhattan and the Bronx, and then transported the crack and heroin to Vermont, for distribution in and around Bennington, Vermont.

 

As a result of his plea, JENKINS faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, and a maximum sentence of life.  JENKINS is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Koeltl on June 2, 2017, at 10:00 a.m.

 

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Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the New York City Police Department, the United States Marshals, the Vermont State Police, and the Bennington Police Department.  Mr. Bharara also thanked the United States Attorney’s Office for District of Vermont for assisting his Office at all stages of the investigation.

 

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gerber, Hadassa Waxman, Andrew Adams, and Margaret Graham are in charge of the prosecution.