Parkville man admits role in cocaine ring

Alcedo Hodge Jr., 29, of Parkville pleaded guilty on May 28 in federal court in Maryland to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. Prosecutors said the case grew out of a multi-state federal drug investigation tied to a trafficking organization operating in Richmond, Virginia. The Justice Department said Hodge acted as a drug supplier. Federal authorities announced the plea with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Washington Division, Baltimore County police, Baltimore police and the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. ### Who is the Parkville man who pleaded guilty? Alcedo Hodge Jr. was identified by prosecutors as a 29-year-old Parkville resident charged in U.S. District Court with cocaine trafficking and a firearms offense. The Justice Department said Hodge pleaded guilty rather than go to trial on those counts. Kelly O. Hayes, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the plea alongside DEA Special Agent in Charge Christopher C. (justice.gov) Goumenis, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley and DPSCS Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs, the release said. ### How did investigators connect him to the larger cocaine case? (justice.gov) In 2024, the DEA investigated a drug trafficking organization operating in Richmond, Virginia, according to the Justice Department. Investigators identified an unnamed co-conspirator and Hodge as re-supply sources for that organization, prosecutors said. December 2024 wiretaps captured conversations about cocaine re-supply in the Baltimore metropolitan area, the release said. (justice.gov) On Dec. 5, investigators followed a trafficking-organization member from Virginia to Owings Mills, Maryland, where authorities said the person met the co-conspirator and Hodge in a shopping center parking lot. After the Virginia member returned home, law enforcement stopped the vehicle and recovered one kilogram of cocaine, according to prosecutors. ### What did police say they found during the Maryland stop? On March 17, 2025, investigators stopped Hodge in Baltimore County after what the Justice Department described as another suspected drug transaction. A K-9 unit alerted on the vehicle, prosecutors said. The vehicle search turned up three kilograms of cocaine, a fully loaded Glock semiautomatic handgun with a 22-round extended magazine and about $78,000 in cash, according to the release. (justice.gov) Prosecutors said those items were recovered before investigators searched Hodge’s Parkville residence. ### What does the firearms charge mean in this case? (justice.gov) The firearms count was not a separate allegation unrelated to the drug case. Prosecutors said Hodge pleaded guilty to possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, meaning the gun charge was tied directly to the cocaine trafficking conduct described in the federal investigation. (justice.gov) The Justice Department release did not list a plea agreement term, an agreed sentencing recommendation or a scheduled sentencing date. Court docket services indexed the case as United States v. Hodge, No. 1:25-cr-00091, in the District of Maryland. ### What is known about the wider investigation? The Justice Department said the case resulted from what it called an HSTF investigation, and the release described the matter as a multi-state federal drug investigation. (justice.gov) The public statement tied the case to trafficking activity in Virginia, Baltimore County, Parkville and Owings Mills. Federal prosecutors did not identify the Richmond trafficking organization by name in the release, and they did not name the co-conspirator referred to as “CC-1.” The announcement also did not say whether additional charges are pending against other people connected to the same supply chain. ### What happens next in court? As of the Justice Department’s May 28 announcement, Hodge had entered his guilty plea but had not yet been publicly assigned a sentencing date in the materials reviewed. (justice.gov) The next formal milestone in the case is sentencing in U.S. District Court in Maryland under case number 1:25-cr-00091.