BIG DRUG BUST: SUCCESSFUL DRUG ENTREPRENEUR MELVIN SMOOT IN WALDORF – will charges stick this time?

BIG DRUG BUST: SUCCESSFUL DRUG ENTREPRENEUR MELVIN SMOOT IN WALDORF – will charges stick this time?

WALDORF, MD. – A career drug dealer was busted in Charles County on August 16, 2024, when Charles County narcotics detectives raided the crib of Melvin Andre Smoot and came up with a big stash of drugs and cash.  The cash will be kept as evidence, and Smoot will have to dig up some secure cans or jars of cash from his backyard or bank account to pay his lawyer, Hammad Matin, of La Plata. Matin has a strong record of good results for drug dealers, including a prior appearance for Smoot.

Charles County Sheriff Troy Berry reports that a search warrant was served at a residence on Night Heron Place in Waldorf, and large amounts of drugs were recovered. On August 15, as part of an ongoing drug investigation, detectives assigned to the Narcotics Enforcement Section served a search warrant in the 4000 block of Night Heron Pl. in Waldorf, MD.

The suspect, Melvin Andre Smoot, 37, of 6070 Mason Springs Road, Indian Head, was taken into custody away from the Waldorf home. During the search, cocaine, crack cocaine, PCP, psilocybin mushrooms, and cannabis valued at over $80,000 were recovered, along with over $10,000 in cash and other evidence. Smoot was charged by Detective Casey Phillips with multiple counts of possession with intent to distribute drugs and other related offenses.

 On August 19, 2024, Judge Andrea Watkins, in a rare example of keeping a dangerous ex-convict drug dealer off the street, ordered Smoot to be held at the Charles County Jail without bond. Watkins has often allowed violent criminals to be released, including one man who sought out his girlfriend and killed her.

On August 20, 2020, in front of Circuit Court Judge Hayward James West in Charles County, Smoot entered a guilty plea in a deal between his attorney, Hammad Matin, and Charles County State Attorney Anthony Covington, to possession with the intent to distribute drugs. Judge West ordered a jail term of five years; in another example of Judicial Fiction, if Smoot actually served five years in prison, he would have been unavailable to continue to serve the druggies of Charles County with their favorite drugs and been arrested again as shown in this report.

Facing felony drug distribution charges in Charles County Circuit Court, Melvin Andre Smoot (DOB 12/31/1986) of 3065 Tempo Place, Pomfret, Maryland, entered a guilty plea in 2018 in a deal between his attorney Hammad S. Matin and Charles County States Attorney Anthony Covington.

In the deal approved by Circuit Court Judge William R. Greer Jr, Smoot was given eighteen months in the local jail rather than have a longer sentence, which would have sent him off to the wilds of the Maryland prison system.

Judge Robert Nalley sentenced Melvin Andre Smoot to ten years in prison on January 25, 2013, when he entered a guilty plea to drug distribution and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The plea deal between Charles County State’s Attorney Anthony Covington and defense attorneys, including Charles Steuart of Upper Marlboro.  Court records show that the LaPlata Two Step Judicial System was activated on July 11, 2013, when a motion was filed to reconsider the sentence on July 11, 2013. Covington opposed the motion on July 15, 2013.

Proving that the Judicial Fiction Writers of the Maryland Judiciary didn’t keep Smoot in prison for ten years, he was arrested while driving a Lincoln Zepher on Billingsly Road at Curtain Drive in Waldorf by Charles County Sheriff Officer Elizabeth McGill on February 3, 2018, at 1:48 am. Smoot was charged with driving while his permit was suspended in another state and in a plea deal between his attorney Hammad Matin and Charles County States Attorney Anthony Covington, Smoot entered a guilty plea in Charles County District Court before Judge Kenneth Talley.  Smoot was fined $75.50 and given a verdict of Probation Before Judgement.

On March 3, 2011, before Judge Steven G. Chappelle, State’s Attorney Covington dumped a slew of firearms and felony drug dealing charges against Melvin Smoot. Covington was an assistant state’s attorney in Charles County under Leonard Collins and has been the State’s Attorney in Charles County since January 3, 2011.