Large-Scale Cocaine Supplier Pleads Guilty to Drug and Firearms Distribution

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Washington, D.C. man pleaded guilty today to supplying approximately 70 kilograms of cocaine to over 30 customers and for selling firearms.

According to court documents, Simeon Olayemi Orekoya, 47, distributed approximately 70 kilograms of cocaine between January 2017 and December 2019, which was then resold in Virginia and surrounding areas. He also sold cocaine and four firearms to undercover law enforcement officers during the investigation. Two of the firearms did not have serial numbers. Orekoya has five prior felony convictions.

Orekoya pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison when sentenced on July 24. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Mo Money. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark Herring, Attorney General for Virginia; Henry P. Stawinski III, Chief of Prince George’s County Police; Marcus Jones, Montgomery County Chief of Police; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office; Timothy Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Baltimore Field Division; Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Washington Field Division; and M. Jay Farr, Arlington County Chief of Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr. accepted the plea. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Karolina Klyuchnikova is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-71.