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Press Release

Career Offender From Cincinnati Sentenced To 262 Months For Possession Of A Firearm In Furtherance Of Drug Trafficking

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky

COVINGTON, KY - A Cincinnati man, who has several prior criminal convictions, was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking activity in northern Kentucky.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar sentenced 35 year-old Mitchell Blankumsee and also ordered that he be placed on supervised release for five years after he completes his prison term. Blankumsee received an enhanced sentence because he qualifies as a career offender, which means he had two or more drug trafficking or violent crime convictions at the time of his most recent offense.

In this case, Blankumsee admitted to distributing and selling heroin in Newport, KY., on July 24, 2012. He also possessed crack cocaine and a loaded firearm at the time of his arrest on August 29, 2012. Blankumsee acknowledged that he intended to sell the crack cocaine and that he possessed the firearm to assist him in trafficking drugs.

Blankumsee was previously convicted of selling crack cocaine, in Kenton County, in 1998; of possession of cocaine, in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1999; and of trafficking in crack cocaine, in Campbell County, in 2005. He was released from prison for his 2005 offense shortly before committing this most recent offense.

Blankumsee entered his guilty plea on February 1, 2013. Under federal law, Blankumsee must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.

Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Stuart L. Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (Louisville Field Division), jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives, the Newport Police Department, and the Highland Heights Police Department. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Bracke.

Updated November 25, 2015