Camp Springs Man Exiled to 57 Months in Prison for Illegal Possession of a Firearm

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced Richaco Fernandis Holloway, age 24, of Camp Springs, Maryland, today to 57 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a gun.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Karl C. Colder of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; and Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According to testimony presented at Holloway=s two-day trial, on July 3, 2013, American Music Group (AMG), a music label belonging to Ricky Lee Holloway, Richaco Holloway’s older brother, posted a video entitled “E-Banga/Why you Hatin’?” on its YouTube channel. In that AMG video, Richacho Holloway was filmed holding a .45 caliber handgun with an extended magazine. The video was shot at a building in a residential neighborhood in Camp Springs that had been converted into a music studio. The building doubled as a distribution hub for Ricky Lee Holloway’s PCP distribution operation.

Witnesses testified that during a search conducted at the music studio during a takedown of Ricky Holloway’s PCP trafficking activity, agents recovered the firearm Richaco Holloway was filmed holding in the rap video. The weapon was loaded with 17 rounds in the same extended magazine it was filmed with in the video. Richaco Holloway was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition due to a 2008 conviction in Prince George’s County Circuit Court for robbery with a deadly weapon and for which he was on parole.

Ricky Lee Holloway, age 31, of Bowie, Maryland, has pleaded guilty to distributing more than 30 kilograms of PCP between 2011 and 2013, and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 22, 2014, at 9:00 a.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, DEA and Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation and thanked the ATF for its assistance. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Adam K. Ake, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.