10th Gila River Community drug dealer pleads guilty

1068

Christina Marie Jackson, 36, of Sacaton and a member of the Gila River Indian Community, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine Base.

The plea follows a broad undercover tribal police investigation from 2007 to 2010 that found Jackson and several Community members to be trafficking in crack cocaine from their homes.  Undercover agents bought crack cocaine from her or her co-defendant roommate in 2009 and 2010. Officers from the Gila River Police Department also conducted search warrants of her home and found drugs and drug paraphernalia in the house.

In the undercover operation, which lasted more than two years, the Gila River Police Special Enforcement Unit, supported by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs drug unit, zeroed in on people with a known history of dealing crack and methamphetamine out of their homes in the Gila River Community.

“Together with our law enforcement partners on the Gila River Indian Community, our office has secured drug convictions against 10 of 11 indicted defendants in this case and has rid the community of several known crack and meth dealers,” said U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke.

The remaining defendant is on warrant status.

According to court records, Jackson worked together with others, including another defendant who served as the broker in multiple hand-to-hand crack cocaine sales from her residence in the Gila River Community. In September 2007 she drove a vehicle containing cocaine base to her house while tribal officers were executing a search warrant on her house for drugs and drug paraphernalia. Officers searched her car and the house and found nearly 70 grams of cocaine base, scales, drug ledgers, torches, glass smoking pipes and two guns.

Jackson’s conviction carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, a $2 million fine or both. U.S. District Court Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt will sentence Jackson on July 11.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Gila River Police Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The prosecution is being handled by Jennifer E. Green, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Phoenix.