Baltimore Man Exiled to 10 Years in Prison on Drug Charges

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Samuel Edwards, age 19, of Baltimore, today to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to Edwards’ plea agreement, on July 7, 2008, Baltimore Police Department officers were conducting undercover surveillance in the 2800 block of Fox Street in Baltimore, following a recent murder. There the officers saw Samuel Edwards, whom they knew from previous arrests, walk into an alley that paralleled Fox Street. One of the officers moved to a hidden location that allowed him to watch the alley. About twenty minutes later the officer saw Edwards again enter the alley and go directly into the rear yard of a home on Fox Street. The officer saw Edwards remove a plastic bag from under a piece of plywood that was being used as a ramp to the rear door of the residence. The plywood ramp was being supported by a cinder-block and the officer saw Edwards remove a small object from a baggie that was placed on top of the cinder-block. Edwards placed the object into his shoe, put the plastic baggie back under the plywood and exited the alley onto 28th Street where officers lost sight of him.

The officer who had been watching Edwards went into the alley and directly to the plywood ramp. The officer found the plastic bag which contained fourteen smaller zip-lock baggies of crack cocaine (net weight 1.49 grams). The officer saw that there was a black bag behind the cinder-block. Protruding from the black bag was a loaded Squires Bingham .22 semi-automatic long rifle, Model 16, with the stock and barrel sawed off.

Officers subsequently arrested Edwards while he was walking down Fox Street. A search of Edwards recovered $186 from his pants pocket and one cell phone. The 1.49 grams of cocaine base recovered from the fourteen zip-lock baggies was consistent in size, packaging and weight with narcotics packaged for street sale.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Layman, the Baltimore Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra L. Dwyer, who is prosecuting the case.