An Alexandria man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a “high-level drugs conspiracy that shipped significant amounts of narcotics” into Virginia, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
Adrian Bryce Roberts, 41, was sentenced to 12 years of active incarceration on July 28 after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl, and transporting more than an ounce of narcotics into the state, according to Porter’s office.
On May 30, 2024, Virginia State Police were notified of a suspicious package by a private shipping company. The package was addressed a home on Montgomery Street in Old Town, and inside police found a large amount of suspected methamphetamine, according to court records.
The following day, on May 31, another suspicious package was shipped to a separate address on Montgomery Street. VSP replaced the suspected narcotics inside the package with “sham” narcotics, and it was delivered to the address. Roberts picked up the package and was followed by the police to a storage facility.
“At the storage facility, the defendant opened the package and removed the ‘sham’ narcotics,” Porter said. “He retrieved a large black duffel bag and reentered the Mercedes. Police followed as he returned to an apartment building on Montgomery Street and entered the building.”
VSP searched Roberts’ apartment on Montgomery Street on the evening of May 31, and found him “hiding in the bathroom,” Porter said. “A co-conspirator,
Donald Crosland was also inside the apartment. Crossland has pleaded guilty to conspiracy-related charges but has yet to be sentenced.”
Inside the apartment and storage unit, officers seized:
- 13,400 grams of methamphetamine
- 168 grams of cocaine
- 1,285 grams of a mixture containing fentanyl
- A kilogram hand press used in the packaging of narcotics
- A pressed brick of white powder
- Additional implements of large-scale narcotics dealing were located, including a gas mask, plastic baggies, a blender, cutting agents, acetone, and spackling tools
- A large amount of cash
“The Virginia State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration did an outstanding job in dismantling a complex drug trafficking organization,” Porter said. “Their diligence and professionalism resulted in the seizure of over 13,400 grams of methamphetamine which could ultimately been broken down into over 50,000 individual quarter-gram doses, not to mention substantial amounts of cocaine and fentanyl.”
Roberts was sentenced to 28 years in prison, with 16 years suspended on condition that he spend 10 years on good behavior and five years on supervised probation upon his release.
“The active penitentiary sentence imposed in this case is proof positive my office takes such matters seriously and is a warning to other potential drug
dealers: if you come to Alexandria, you will pay a heavy price,” Porter said.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Mark Mastakas. Roberts is being held in the William G. Truesdale Alexandria
Adult Detention Center pending his transfer to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
