FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
October 14, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DRUG DEALER EXILED TO OVER 11 YEARS IN PRISON FOR POSSESSING A GUN IN FURTHERANCE OF DRUG TRAFFICKING
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Jeffrey Cantrell Shaw, age 30, of Greensboro, North Carolina, today to 140 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Judge Blake enhanced Shaw’s sentence upon finding that he is a career offender, based on previous convictions for attempted robbery and possession with intent to distribute ecstacy.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Ava Cooper-Davis of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; and Major Michael Kundrat, Senior Commander of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.
According to Shaw’s plea agreement, in late July 2010, Shaw and a co-conspirator drove from North Carolina to New York, where they picked up approximately one kilogram of cocaine and two guns. After “cooking” some of the cocaine into crack, Shaw and the co-conspirator drove to Bennington, Vermont, to sell some of the crack cocaine. Law enforcement later recovered 97.7 grams of crack cocaine that Shaw had hidden under the back porch of a home in Bennington.
Shaw and the co-conspirator returned to New York to retrieve the remaining cocaine and one of the guns, a .45 caliber handgun, which were subsequently placed in the trunk of the rental car they were driving. On July 26, 2010, Shaw and the co-conspirator began the return trip to North Carolina. They were stopped by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer. After observing that the co-conspirator appeared nervous and getting different stories from Shaw and the co-conspirator, the officer conducted a canine search of the vehicle. The dog alerted to the trunk of the vehicle and the officer recovered between 500 grams and one kilogram of cocaine and the loaded .45 caliber handgun.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA and Maryland Transportation Authority Police for their work in this investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Joshua Kaul and Christopher J. Romano, who prosecuted the case.