After cousin's murder spurred his spiral, middleman gets prison in Erie cocaine, meth ring

Nearly nine years ago, Kechawn J. Douglas experienced what his lawyer said was one of the most traumatic events of Douglas' young life.

The lawyer said in a court filing that the event was so trying that it contributed to Douglas' involvement as a middleman in one of the largest drug rings prosecuted in Erie. It is the 25-person operation alleged to have mailed as much as 100 kilograms of cocaine — 220 pounds — worth as much as $3.2 million from Puerto Rico to Erie from January 2020 to May 2022.

When he was 18, Douglas lost his cousin in one of Erie's most infamous killings in recent years.

The cousin, Elijah Jackson, was one of two 16-year-old innocent bystanders slain in a drive-by shooting at an outdoor party at the intersection of West 29th and Summit streets on July 24, 2015. The shooting happened after the annual Save-An-Eye All-Star football game at nearby Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The death of his cousin, as well injuries he suffered in a car accident and the death of his grandfather, left Douglas, who was raised by his grandmother, "to grapple with chronic anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder," his lawyer said in a sentencing memorandum filed in federal court in Erie.

"In an attempt to cope with his emotional pain and trauma," according to the memo, "Mr. Douglas turned to drugs and alcohol as a means of self-medication, which further exacerbated his mental health issues."

Douglas, 26, will have close to the next five years to get help — in federal prison.

At a hearing at which the judge urged him to get drug counseling while he is incarcerated, Douglas was sentenced on Thursday to four years and nine months in prison and three years of supervised release.

"It's always the drugs," U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter told Douglas. "It always leads you down the bad path."

Defendant was 'primary conduit' in drug ring

Douglas was the 10th-highest of the 25-defendants indicted in May 2022 on conspiracy and other charges in the Puerto Rico-to-Erie drug operation. He pleaded guilty in December to a felony count of trafficking in cocaine and methamphetamine.

The kilos of cocaine originated in Costa Rica, with Puerto Rico as the shipping point for the drugs to leave for the United States in the U.S. mail, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The case also involved the distribution of meth and fentanyl.

Douglas was "the primary conduit" in getting the cocaine from the suppliers to drug dealers in Erie, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers said in court.

Sellers said in a sentencing memo that wiretapped conversations and videotaped interactions showed Douglas regularly contacted the defendants accused of running the operation: Miguel Rivera, of Erie, and the person listed second in the indictment, Eric Suarez, of Orlando, Florida.

"Mr. Douglas frequently discussed the purchase of cocaine with Miguel Rivera and Eric Suarez down to the dollar and was surveilled on video paying Suarez $24,900 for a kilogram of cocaine," according to Sellers' memo.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has said Erie street gangs helped distribute the drugs, though Douglas was not accused of being in a gang.

Defendant, a father of three, takes responsibility

With his guilty plea, Douglas "acknowledged his responsibility" for 7 kilograms of cocaine and between 40 and 50 grams of meth, according to Sellers' memo.

Sellers asked for a sentence of 57 months to 71 months — the same range recommended in the sentencing guidelines. Douglas' lawyer, Kelvin Morris, of Pittsburgh, asked for a sentence of 57 months in court and in his sentencing memo.

Morris said in court that Douglas accepted his role in a crime that would lead to prison and separation from his three children, 3, 7 and 7 years old, and his longtime girlfriend, with whom he shares two of the children.

Douglas apologized.

"I am sorry for putting myself in this situation," he told Baxter. "I had a rough childhood, but I take this responsibility."

Case is one of several big Erie drug prosecutions

Douglas is the seventh defendant sentenced in the case. The other defendants have pleaded not guilty as their prosecutions proceed. They include Rivera and Suarez, the lead defendants.

The case is one of several large drug cases moving through U.S. District Court in Erie. The largest-ever case drug case in Erie is the 58-defendant 4-Nation gang case. Those defendants were indicted about 11 months ago.

In Douglas' case, Baxter said the sentence of 57 months — four years and nine months — fits the crime and accounted for Douglas' guilty plea and limited prior record. She let Douglas stay free on an unsecured bond of $10,000 until he reports to prison at a later date.

As Baxter encouraged Davis to get help for his drug abuse, she also told him to avail himself of job training and other opportunities while in prison. She said he was getting a chance to break away from his past.

"I think this is going to be a turning point for your life," Baxter said.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Traumatized by violence, middleman sentenced in Erie PA coke, meth ring