NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JANUARY 3, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS FOR

CRACK COCAINE CONSPIRACY

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for participating in a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.

Akil R. Burns, also known as Lo Lo, 27, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr., to 20 years in federal prison.

On Sept. 11, 2007, Burns pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine from Oct. 31, 2006, to Jan. 8, 2007. Burns sold crack cocaine to a cooperating individual working for the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force on four separate occasions. On Jan. 8, 2007, Burns completed the fourth drug transaction with that individual and law enforcement officers moved in to arrest him. Burns sped away in his Ford Explorer, however, avoiding spike strips and engaging officers in a high-speed pursuit. Burns and a passenger bailed out of the vehicle near the Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, Mo., and ran into the hospital. A brief foot chase ensued, and Burns was captured in the hospital.

Law enforcement officers recovered a plastic bag containing 28 individually-wrapped bags of crack cocaine from the Explorer.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Marquez. It was investigated by the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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