Local News in Brief : Cocaine Dealer Gets 20-Year Sentence

The son of a Long Beach nightclub owner was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for running a narcotics ring that sold more than $1 million worth of cocaine each week.

Darren Ray Fuller, 23, was convicted July 18 of narcotics trafficking along with his father, Cecil Fuller, 48, owner of Cecil’s Palace in Long Beach. Cecil Fuller, who financed his son’s operation, was sentenced Sept. 19 to 15 years in prison.

David Hensch, 47, of Sunset Beach, who tested the organization’s cocaine for purity, was also sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima. Hensch, who was convicted of drug trafficking in July, was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $25,000.

A fourth man convicted after the four-week trial, Darryl Mackbee, 22, of Long Beach, a salesman for the operation, was sentenced Sept. 19 to five years in prison.

Of 18 people indicted in the case, four were convicted in a jury trial, 12 pleaded guilty--including Darren Fuller’s grandmother--and charges against two were dismissed.