BRUNSWICK, Ga. – A New York-based gang leader has been sentenced to over six years in prison for his role in trying to exchange heroin and cocaine for a cache of firearms in Brunswick, Georgia.
Qaaid Reddick, 33, a Bloods gang leader, and Brandon Conway, 22, both New York residents, traveled from New York to Brunswick, Georgia, to trade the drugs for the weapons, according to evidence presented during Reddick's guilty plea and sentencing hearings.
Reddick and Conway were attempting to obtain firearms to take back to New York so they could be distribute them to others for use in crimes, prosecutors said.
Reddick and Conway delivered the drugs to a person at a hotel room in Brunswick, Georgia. In the hotel room, Reddick and Conway were shown the cache of firearms they ordered, which included semi-automatic weapons and an assault rifle.
To their surprise, Reddick and Conway were dealing with an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Reddick and Conway were quickly arrested in the hotel room without incident.
“Georgia is often referred to as a ‘source state’ for out-of-state gang members looking for firearms,” U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver said. “This U.S. Attorney’s Office and our federal and state law enforcement partners will continue to disrupt the illegal pipeline of guns from Georgia to the hands of those peddling drugs, fear and crime in neighborhoods throughout our great nation.”
Conway was sentenced earlier to seven months in prison and three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was investigated by the ATF, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Glynn County Sheriff’s Department.