FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885
October 31, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BALTIMORE MAN SENTENCED TO OVER 26 YEARS IN PRISON FOR
GUN POSSESSION AND DRUG TRAFFICKING
BALTIMORE, Maryland - Lamont Sanders, age 30, of Baltimore was sentenced today to 322 months in prison followed by 8 years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz enhanced Sanders’ sentence based on his finding that Sanders was a career offender, having several prior felony drug convictions and violent crime convictions, including robbery with a deadly weapon and discharging a handgun.
According to the statement of facts presented at his June 29, 2006 guilty plea and other court documents, on October 10, 2005, police officers observed Sanders sell 3 capsules of heroin to an undercover officer, and then conduct what appeared to be narcotics sales with two other individuals. The officers attempted to stop Sanders in his car, but he rammed a police car and led them on a high speed chase through the city and into Baltimore County. Eventually Sanders’s car crashed and he was arrested. The officers found narcotics and $1,736 in drug proceeds in Sanders’ car.
Additional investigation by the arresting officers revealed that Sanders had provided a false home address. The officers executed a search warrant at Sanders’s actual apartment and recovered a plastic baggie containing 18.86 grams of crack cocaine; packages of unused ziploc bags, commonly used for packaging drugs for street-level sale; a cutting agent used in drug distribution; and a digital scale with residue from cocaine.
Officers also recovered a loaded Norinco .45 caliber pistol and extra magazine containing 7 additional rounds; a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol with one round chambered and 16 rounds in the magazine, along with an extra magazine containing 15 rounds; a Raven Arms .25 caliber pistol; a Smith & Wesson gun box containing 16 9mm rounds; and 35 .45 caliber rounds.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Baltimore City Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their investigative work in this case. Mr. Rosenstein also praised Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Leotta and John W. Sippel, Jr., who prosecuted the case.
This page last modified—October 31, 2006