FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2009
Contact: Special Agent Ramona Sanchez
Number: 602-664-5725
Large Scale Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced to Life in Prison for Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering
30-year Fugitive Had All 10 Fingers Surgically Altered to Evade Capture
30-Year Fugitive Had Ten Fingers Surgically Altered to Evade Capture
DEC 11 -- PHOENIX - William Wallace Keegan, aka Richard Alan King, 62, of Palm Harbor, Florida (and previously of Calif. and New York), was sentenced yesterday to five concurrent life sentences for drug trafficking and 240 months for money laundering related to his drug trafficking activities. Keegan was found guilty in June 2009, after a 10-day federal jury trial, of one count of Conspiracy to Possess With Intent to Distribute Five Kilograms or More of Cocaine, four counts of Possession With Intent To Distribute Five Kilograms or More of Cocaine and one Count of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.
During the trial, the evidence showed that Keegan had all 10 fingers surgically altered in the 1990's to obliterate his fingerprints above the first joint. A Drug Enforcement Administration forensic fingerprint analyst was able to match the lower joint fingerprints from the arrest under the name of Richard King in January 2008 with a 1977 arrest, confirming his identity as William Wallace Keegan.
