Baltimore Drug Gang Member Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Shawn Coleman, a/k/a “City,” age 27 to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to Coleman’s plea agreement,Coleman traveled from Baltimore to New York City to buy and transport drugs. He used a Baltimore hotel room rented by a co-defendant to cook the cocaine into crack cocaine, which the conspirators sold to customers in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.

On August 8, 2007 Baltimore City police officers stopped a vehicle in which Coleman sat in the front seat. They saw Coleman pass two golf-sized balls of crack cocaine and 60 bags of heroin to another passenger in the back seat. These drugs were found in a search of the back seat passenger. Officers also recovered from the vehicle a key to the hotel room used by the conspirators, and subsequently seized 32.38 grams of heroin, 21.90 grams of crack cocaine, utensils used to cook and package crack cocaine and other drug paraphernalia from the hotel room.

From April 2007 to mid-summer of 2008, Coleman and his conspirators sold at least 1.5 kilograms of crack cocaine.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and her office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Baltimore City Police Department for their work in this investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Kwame J. Manley, who prosecuted the case.