FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
MAY 4, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BALTIMORE ARMED CAREER CRIMINAL SENTENCED TO OVER 15 YEARS
FOR ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF A FIREARM
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Timothy Dwight Cornwell, age 34, of Baltimore today to 188 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Blake enhanced Cornwell’s sentence upon finding that he is an armed career criminal based on three prior violent felony convictions for escape, assault and robbery.
According to his guilty plea, on February 7, 2006, a Baltimore City police officer responded to a call complaining that a man was selling drugs in the 1000 block of Abbott Court in Baltimore City. The officer approached Cornwell, who matched the description provided by the caller. Cornwell began walking away from the marked patrol car and the police officer saw him place a silver hand gun into the mail slot of a nearby residence. Cornwell was arrested after he was unable to produce a gun permit. During this time, a report came in over the police radio that a resident from the same block of Abbott Court had called to say that someone had put a gun into the mail slot of their home. The police officer recovered the hand gun, located on the floor of the residence near the mail slot.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised that investigative work performed by the Baltimore City Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and commended Assistant United States Attorney John Sippel, who prosecuted the case.