Large-scale Philadelphia Drug Trafficker Convicted at Trial

PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced that Alan Womack, 44, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was convicted today at trial with conspiracy to distribute over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Between 2005 and 2016, the defendant was an integral part of a drug trafficking organization that arranged for thousands of pounds of marijuana to be shipped on tractor-trailers across the country, from Phoenix to Philadelphia, on a monthly basis. The organization also arranged for truck drivers and people known as “mules” to transport hundreds of thousands of dollars from Philadelphia to Phoenix so they could pay for bulk orders of marijuana supplied by a cartel in Mexico.

The defendant and nine co-defendants were charged in a second superseding indictment in 2017 for their roles in the conspiracy which included illegal acts such as organizing the marijuana shipments, renting storage lockers where bales of marijuana would be held before transport, smuggling large amounts of cash on tractor-trailers and on airplanes, operating stash houses in Philadelphia, and possessing illegal firearms to protect their illicit business. In total, the organization was responsible for smuggling more than 8,000 pounds of marijuana across the country, while making millions of dollars over the course of a decade.

At trial, the government presented evidence in the form of testimony from cooperating witnesses, civilian witnesses and law enforcement agents. The physical evidence included recorded phone calls, video surveillance, phone records, various business records and hundreds of pounds of marijuana seized during the course of the investigation.

“Womack and other members of this drug organization pumped huge quantities of marijuana into our community for years,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “Drug trafficking is an inherently dangerous business and the traffickers ultimately deliver destruction to our communities. Our office is determined to investigate and convict these criminals, and put them behind bars.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Ashenfelter.