NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A 36-year-old Newport News man was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison Monday morning after admitting to being a "drug mule" in a cocaine-by-mail scheme.
In a roughly hour-long hearing at the federal courthouse on Granby Street, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen handed Sidney Travis Swann a 68-month sentence following his November 2022 guilty plea on one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. A five-year term of supervised release will begin upon Swann's release from federal prison.
The sentencing range under federal guidelines was 63-78 months, and federal prosecutors asked for 78 months, noting Swann's prior federal conviction in a sentencing memorandum.
"The defendant was having kilograms of cocaine mailed to the Virginia Peninsula. . . he engaged in this activity shortly after his supervised release had ended from a prior federal conviction," prosecutors wrote.
Swann, through his attorney, sought a sentence of 63 months, writing in a recent filing that his "role in the conspiracy was that of a 'drug mule' . . . although a seemingly essential role, he did no more than transport product. The plan to mail narcotics across the country was conceived of by 2 unindicted co-conspirators."
Swann was arrested in June 2022 after a FedEx security specialist contacted Newport News police about a package that contained an additional package resembling a birthday present. Inside that "present" was approximately two kilograms of suspected narcotics, according to a statement of facts Swann signed at his plea hearing.
Police took the package, which was addressed to a home in Newport News, to NNPD headquarters for inspection. Inside the package were "several layers of plastic bags, food seasoning, dryer sheets and other items consistent with obscuring the odor of narcotics," the statement of facts said.
A phone number listed on the shipping label was linked to Swann using police databases, and a controlled delivery was planned. A police detective called the number on the package, and when Swann answered, they told him the package was mistakenly delivered to their address.
Swann, not realizing he was speaking to a detective, said he was in a rush and needed to get the package "now," but the detective declined to provide an address and offered to meet at Walmart later that day. Swann offered "upwards of $2,000" for the package and a $500 payment was agreed upon, according to the statement of facts.
The detective told Swann to head to the Walmart at 6111 Jefferson Avenue, where he would be able to retrieve the package from an unlocked vehicle in the back of the store's parking lot. Detectives watched Swann approach and detained him as soon as he opened the vehicle door.
Swann was jailed on state-level warrants, and the case was transferred to federal prosecutors a short time later. The substances in the package were later tested and found to be at least a half-kilogram of cocaine, the statement of facts said.
