FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
February 23, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BALTIMORE CAREER DRUG DEALER EXILED TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, sentenced Robert Jones, age 26, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to 12 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. Judge Bennett enhanced Jones’ sentence upon finding that he is a career offender, based on two previous narcotics distribution convictions.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Theresa R. Stoop of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.
“Drug dealers and career offenders have no place on the streets of Baltimore,” says ATF Special Agent in Charge Theresa Stoop.”Mr. Jones will now be exiled far away from the neighborhood where he was caught operating his illegal business.”
According to Jones’s guilty plea, on November 10, 2009, Jones was observed selling drugs in the rear yard of a vacant dwelling at 2000 block of Guilford Avenue in Baltimore. Law enforcement watched as Jones spoke with the buyers, then walked down a nearby alley and retrieved the drugs from behind an ivy plant. Jones was arrested and officers searched him, recovering $106 in cash. Officers also recovered the drugs, one plastic bag containing two gelcaps of heroin and two plastic bags containing a total of 14 vials of cocaine, from the stash behind the ivy plant.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended ATF, the Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant United States Attorney Christine Celeste, a cross-designated Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorney, who prosecuted the case.