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June 22, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOTHIAN MAN SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS FOR BEING A FELON IN POSSESSION OF A FIREARM AFTER HIS ARREST FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
GREENBELT, Maryland - Jason Brooks, age 27, of Lothian, Maryland was sentenced yesterday by the U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte to 74 months followed by 3 years of supervised release for illegal possession of a firearm at the time of a domestic assault, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Messitte also sentenced Brooks to an additional 10 months to be served consecutively because the firearm conviction violated the terms of a prior period of supervised release on a previous gun charge.
According to the statement of facts presented at his guilty plea on March 9, 2006, Prince George’s County police officers responded to a domestic dispute on July 14, 2005 in Bowie, Maryland. Upon their arrival, Brooks’ wife advised that she had been assaulted by her husband. Brooks had bound and gagged his wife, tied her up using extension cords and computer cables, and poured water and put a paper clip up her nose while telling her that she could drown. When he left the apartment briefly saying he would be back “in ten minutes,” she was able to escape and call the police. The police located Brooks sitting in the driver’s seat of his vehicle in front of his wife’s apartment. Brooks was arrested and a loaded Glock-27 .40 caliber handgun was recovered from a backpack in his vehicle. There was one bullet in the chamber of the gun.
Brooks pled guilty to the assault on his wife and her false imprisonment in Prince George’s County Circuit Court on February 28, 2006.
Brooks’ prior felony also involved illegal possession of a gun. Brooks was convicted on May 29, 2001 of possessing a firearm while subject to a court order restraining him from harassing, stalking and threatening his first wife. For that first conviction, Brooks was sentenced to 15 months incarceration and 3 years supervised release by Judge Peter J. Messitte. At the time of his sentencing in the 2000 case, Brooks, through his counsel, falsely told the court that two other guns he owned had been stolen, including the Glock Model 27 .40 caliber pistol found in his car during the search on July 14, 2005. Brooks was released from prison in 2002 and was on supervised release at the time of his arrest on July 14, 2005.
During his guilty plea, Brooks admitted that he lied to the court when sentenced during his original gun case and that he solicited a witness to lie for him regarding his current gun case as well.
A search warrant was executed at Brooks’ home in Lothian on September 22, 2005. At that time, agents found concealed in a vehicle Brooks owned two assault rifles and ammunition; twenty-one Remington 12 gauge shotgun shells; ten rounds of .40 caliber S&W handgun ammunition; and body armor.
Mr. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Prince George’s County Police Department. Mr. Rosenstein also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Wilkinson, who is prosecuting the case.
This page last modified—June 22, 2006