Norfolk drug dealer convicted of organising drug trafficking

NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia – Deton Dodson, 46, of Norfolk was sentenced Thursday for his involvement in a drug trafficking operation in the Tidewater area.

Dodson was charged with cocaine trafficking and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison. According to court documents, the group was supplied with kilograms of cocaine, fentanyl and heroin from several locations, including some groups in California.

Thirteen other co-defendants had already been convicted in the case when an investigation into the organization by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations and the Virginia Beach and Norfolk police departments began in 2020.

Dodson was caught by police after meeting with a co-defendant, Edward Fonville, for a drug deal in November 2021. Dodson was later approached by police and found in possession of a handgun. He admitted to officers that he traded cocaine to Fonville for the gun. After Dodson's arrest, he told Fonville that police were investigating him. Fonville is currently a fugitive.

The case was part of an operation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, an organization that seeks to dismantle high-level criminal organizations that threaten national security.