Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Anthony Thompson, age 39, of Baltimore today to 235 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. Judge Quarles enhanced Thompson’s sentence upon finding that he was an armed career criminal based on four previous convictions for violent crimes and two previous felon drug convictions.

According to testimony at Thompson’s two day trial, on October 20, 2008, plainclothes Baltimore City Police detectives in an unmarked police car were dispatched to McKean Avenue and Mosher Street to investigate a report of several men with guns selling narcotics at the corner. As the detectives approached the intersection they saw Thompson riding a bike away from the area and holding the right side of his pants as he peddled the bike toward the detectives’ vehicle. When Thompson saw the detectives approaching, he attempted to turn his bike in the opposite direction but hit the curb with the front wheel and lost control of the bike. Thompson jumped off the bike and ran through several alleys as one detective followed on foot and the other pursued in a car. During the chase, the detective pursuing Thompson on foot saw Thompson reach into the right side of his pants and remove a black object that the detective believed was a handgun. Thompson threw the handgun into the yard of a vacant house while continuing to run. After chasing the defendant for a few more blocks, the detective and additional officers were eventually able to arrest him in a yard in the rear of Appleton Street. Witnesses testified that a loaded black .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol was recovered from the yard of the vacant house where Thompson tossed it.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy thanked the Baltimore City Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their work in this investigation. Mr. Rosenstein and Ms. Jessamy commended Special Assistant United States Attorney Christopher M. Mason, a cross-designated Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorney assigned to EXILE cases, who prosecuted the case and Assistant State’s Attorney Kristen Hitchner, who assisted in the prosecution.