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The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) describes 47-year-old Malik Dillard of Virginia Beach as a “leader” of a multi-year, multi-state meth distribution conspiracy.
Federal court documents show Dillard aka “Mayo” admitted to being involved in the meth trade from at least Sept 2021 to February 2023 along with co-conspirators Sebastian Balthazar and Richard Olask-Finn.
Dillard admitted he was receiving wholesale quantities of drugs from out-of-state sources and received, stored, and processed meth and other controlled substances at residences in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Norfolk. He also conceded that he supplied meth to at least five people who then distributed it to customers.
Court documents outline some of the events that led up to the feds taking Dillard down.
Drugs through the mail
On March 30, 2021, authorities learned that a package was coming through the USPS from “Tianna Brown” in Long Beach, CA to an apartment on Edward St. in Norfolk. Authorities saw the package get delivered to the Edward St. address the next morning, say the documents signed by Dillard.
Call records revealed Dillard called the phone number of a person who was living at that address about the time the package came, and shortly after he arrived at the apartment.
The following month, authorities found out another package was coming from Long Beach to same address, the documents state. This time it was from “Kianna Brown.”
And this time, authorities also had a search warrant and opened the package, which reportedly contained 1,778 grams of meth that had an average purity of 98.6%.
A setup
Dillard also agreed to statements about how a setup went down on December 16, 2022.
A confidential informant, referred to in the paperwork as “CI,” called Dillard to arrange to buy 1 lb and 11 oz of meth for $4,500. A few hours later, Dillard told CI that Balthazar was outside.
CI talked to Balthazar on the phone and told him how to get into the gate of the residence, the documents explain.
Once inside the enclosed property, law enforcement stopped a Black Benz and found Balthazar in the passenger seat. A narcotics K9 indicated there were drugs in the car and 756 grams of meth was found in a backpack.
At first, Balthazar denied knowing anything about the meth. But later, he admitted that he got the drugs from Mayo in Virginia Beach, the document state.
Dillard admitted that he provided the meth to Balthazar and told him to deliver them to CI.
Plea and sentencing
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Dillard agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture/distribute meth and one count of distribution of meth.
The feds agreed to dismiss a count, not file any additional charges related to activities in this indictment, and not to file information with the court about Dillard’s prior drug conviction.
On February 2, Dillard was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
According to a statement from EDVA, this is his 15th criminal conviction and 3rd federal conviction.
In 2009, he was sentenced in Richmond for his role in leading a conspiracy involving 16 bank robberies across seven states in 75 days—which started just one week after he was released from prison.
In 2003, he was sentenced in the Northern District of Georgia for his role in leading a conspiracy to commit bank fraud, says EDVA.
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