The D.C. Fish Carryout store on 14th Street in north Columbia Heights may seem innocuous enough, but today U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ron Machen announced that its 53-year-old owner pleaded guilty to using the store as a front for the sale of crack-cocaine:

According to the government’s evidence, [Suk in] Hyun conspired with Timothy Hill, 25, and Craig McKoy, 44, to sell crack cocaine out of the store, in the 3400 block of 14th Street NW. Hyun operates the business as a sole proprietor. Beginning in July 2011, Hyun entered into an agreement with the two men in which Hill and McKoy paid Hyun money in exchange for Hyun arranging for cocaine sales to take place inside the store and outside the view of police.

Approximately 10 to 15 times per day, seven days a week, McKoy met with cocaine users in the 3400 to 3600 blocks of 14th Street NW and brought them to the D.C. Fish Carryout store. There, in exchange for a fixed monetary fee, Hyun placed a telephone call to a cocaine dealer to come to the store and sell the drug user cocaine. Hill brought the cocaine to the store and made the physical transfer of the narcotic to the purchaser. After the illegal drug sale was made inside of Hyun’s store, Hill paid Hyun a percentage of each sale that was made.

On Dec. 8, 2011 and Dec. 15, 2011, two Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers made undercover purchases of crack cocaine inside the store. In both instances, Hyun facilitated in the sale by arranging for the officers to meet with the drug dealer and profited from the drug transaction. McKoy participated in the Dec. 8, 2011 drug transaction, and Hill participated in the Dec. 15, 2011 drug transaction.

On Feb. 2, 2012, authorities executed a search warrant at the store, leading to the recovery and seizure of 17 digital, pocket scales used in the measuring of illegal narcotics, tens of thousands of zip lock bags used in the packaging of narcotics, and more than one pound of the federally prohibited narcotic commonly known as “K2,” which is a synthetic cannabinoid.

Hyun will be sentenced in January, and he faces up to 30 years in prison.