News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2003

DORCHESTER MAN INDICTED ON FEDERAL
DRUG AND FIREARMS CHARGES

OCT 3—Boston, MA….Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England; Paul F. Evans, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department; William J. Hoover, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Daniel J. Conley, Suffolk County District Attorney; and United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, announced the federal indictment on drug and firearm charges of DERRICK A. ROGERS, age 27, whose last known address was 19 Castlegate Road, Dorchester, Massachusetts.

In a four-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury, ROGERS was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (also known as "crack") within 1,000 feet of two schools; with being a felon-in-possession of a firearm and ammunition, namely a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol loaded with seven rounds; with carrying the gun during and in connection with the drug offense and possessing the gun in furtherance of the drug offense; and with being a violent felon in possession of body armor.

ROGERS was arrested by members of the Boston Police Youth Violence Strike Force on July 29, 2003, after having completed a federal sentence eleven days prior. Until July 18, 2003, ROGERS had been on federal supervised release following a two-year sentence to federal prison for his 1999 federal conviction on four counts of distributing crack.

If convicted, and the Court finds that ROGERS qualifies as a career offender, he will face a minimum mandatory sentence of 1 year in prison and maximum of 60 years on the school-zone drug charge. Additionally, if found by the Court to be an armed career criminal ROGERS also faces a mandatory minimum of sentence of 15 years and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment on the felon in possession charge. If convicted of carrying a possessing the gun in connection with the drug offense, ROGERS faces an additional 5-year mandatory minimum sentence to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed. The new federal statute making it a crime for an individual previously convicted of a federal or state violent felony to possess body armor (18 U.S.C. 931), became effective on November 2, 2002, and carries a maximum penalty of 3 years' imprisonment.

"Violent career drug offenders will not be allowed to prey on our neighborhoods with impunity," stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Trouville. "Crack cocaine and guns are a duo of disaster. The arrest of this defendant demonstrates the success of the Boston Police Department's Youth Violence Strike Force."

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Boston Police Youth Violence Strike Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Press Contact: Anthony J. Pettigrew, (617) 557-2138