Bodyguard to the Stars Convicted of Selling OxyContin to Manassas Drug Dealers

A Maryland man who was a security guard for famous people faces up to 20 years in prison for supplying the strong painkiller OxyContin to two Manassas drug dealers since 2003.

Joseph E. Mann, 59, of New Carrolton, was convicted Oct. 14 on a charge of conspiring to sell Oxycodone. He will be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2012. Mann was the bodyguard for Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Tina Turner.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride said Mann supplied as many as 20,000 pills to regional drug dealers, including two co-conspirators: Manassas construction business owner Christopher T. Martino and Alexander M. Wilson.

OxyContin is a strong and extremely addictive painkiller that users swallow, snort or inject to get a feeling similar to that of heroin.

According to the court affidavit, federal agents and other law enforcement agencies used six confidential informants to arrest Mann.

Mann sold Oxycontin pills to people in Prince William County from May 2007 to June 2010.

Starting in April 2010, Martino was getting the pills from Mann and selling them in Manassas from his construction business Do It All Construction. From November 2010 to May, Wilson acted as a look-out for Martino and found him new customers.

Two informants told investigators that Mann got the prescriptions for the pills from a doctor who was aware the drugs were being sold for a profit, according to the affidavit. Mann usually filled the prescriptions at DC pharmacies, often disguising himself with wigs and hats.

Mann would sell anywhere from two to 100 pills at a time, charging anywhere from $30 to $80 each.

An informant who lives in Manassas told investigators that Mann had driven to the informant’s house to deliver pills five times in the summer of 2009. Mann was introduced to new customers, selling 60 to 90 pills at a time.

One of the informants helped Martino, and the informant sometimes met with Mann to buy more pills with as much as $2,500. The informant delivered the pills to Martino’s construction business for free drugs and $10 for each pill he got from Mann, according to court records.

On April 15, federal agents watched one informant buy from Martino four pills for $150, at Do It All Construction. The informant said Martino bragged that he was selling this many pills to at least eight other people. Martino sometimes let Mann drive a business truck for drug runs.

This informant bought pills from Martino and Wilson one other time, when they accused him of working with law enforcement, according to court records.

On March 23, 2010, a different informant gave a friend $180 to buy three OxyContin pills and the friend drove to Do It All Construction for the deal.

Martino pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute oxycodone on July 22, and will be sentenced Friday, Oct. 21.

Wilson pleaded guilty to the same charge on Aug. 3, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office called this investigation Operation Cotton Candy. Agents focused on the distribution of painkillers and it involved doctors, pharmacists, nurses and patients in Prince William County, Fairfax County, Manassas City. The Prince William County and Manassass police departments assisted in the investigations.