A Hagerstown man whom police call a major dealer in a regional heroin distribution ring received sentences Monday totaling 50 years in prison.
Chauncey Varasse Coates’ consecutive 25-year sentences come after Frederick County juries found him guilty in two February trials.
Coates, 39, was arrested in 2016 as the result of a multi-agency investigation involving the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.
“This is an important day for the people of our community,” said Frederick County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen Swanson, who prosecuted Coates both times. “[Coates] is a major trafficker of drugs in our community, where he doesn’t even live.”
Coates was arrested in August 2016 after police saw him selling drugs in the 1000 block of West Patrick Street. Police pulled over the buyer and identified the phone number Coates used, but they were unable to arrest Coates at that time.
On Aug. 31, 2016, police traced Coates’ cellphone to a hotel room in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Coates left the hotel with Amanda Groh, an accomplice he had hired to drive him around, according to Swanson.
Maryland State Police pulled the two over in Frederick and found 21 grams of heroin on Groh. Pennsylvania police searched the Greencastle hotel room and found an additional 67.5 grams of heroin, according to the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The two cases resulted in two trials for Coates. One jury convicted him of four charges on Feb. 8 related to heroin possession and distribution. Prosecutors used text messages and witness testimony to paint a picture of him as an experienced dealer. On Feb. 13, a second jury found Coates guilty of one distribution charge.
In separate hearings Monday, Swanson asked Frederick County Circuit Judges William R. Nicklas Jr. and G. Edward Dwyer Jr. for penalties in excess of state sentencing guidelines.
Coates served a previous prison sentence for a cocaine distribution conviction in Washington County, according to Swanson.
“This man GAMBLED with people’s lives every day,” Swanson said. “He is a pure dealer. There is no evidence that he suffers from substance abuse problems. He is in it for the profit.”
Maryland Public Defender Laura Morton, representing Coates, pushed back on the state’s attorney’s request for a stiffer sentence than called for in the guidelines.
“There is an insufficient basis to go above the guidelines,” Morton said. “Nothing in his actions and the things he is convicted of warrant an above-the-guidelines sentence.”
Dwyer said Coates was one of the bigger dealers he had seen prosecuted. In Coates’ first hearing Monday, Dwyer sentenced him to 25 years for a heroin possession with intent to distribute charge.
“This was a thorough investigation,” Dwyer said. “The way [Coates] uses other people ... these are egregious actions.”
Coates asserted his innocence during the second hearing with Nicklas.
“I don’t want to be belligerent, but the picture [Swanson] is painting of me, with all the overdose stuff, I don’t have nothing to do with it,” Coates said. “They’re just throwing my life down the drain.”
Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith said in a statement Monday that he was pleased with the sentence.
Coates “earned every day of this sentence,” Smith said. “He preyed on the vulnerable in our community and was GAMBLING with people’s lives every day.”
Coates still faces federal charges in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He has pleaded not guilty to possession with intent to distribute heroin.
Groh pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance on Feb. 23, 2017. She received a suspended two-year sentence with credit for time served.