District Man Sentenced to 100-Month Prison Term For Federal Drug Offense

            WASHINGTON –Michael Lee Smith, 32, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 100 months in prison on a federal charge stemming from an investigation into the sale of drugs from a home in Southeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Smith pled guilty in August 2015, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to one count of unlawful possession with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base and aiding and abetting. He was sentenced by the Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan. Following completion of his prison term, Smith will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, on Aug. 19, 2014, officers with the Metropolitan Police Department’s First District vice unit executed a search warrant at a home in the 5400 block of C Street SE.  Smith and two other men were in the house. One man, the person who lived at the residence, was quickly detained by police next to a chair in the living room, where a plastic wrap that contained approximately 6.5 grams of crack was recovered. Smith and the other man, meanwhile, ran out the back door. They jumped a fence in the back yard and escaped. However, they were later identified and captured by MPD officers.

            Overall, officers recovered over 170 grams of crack cocaine in a search of the residence, including 149.6 grams from a plate that was on top of a china cabinet in the dining room. Officers also recovered empty zip lock bags, a glass bowl, a scale spoon, a razor blade, and other items used to manufacture and distribute narcotics. In his guilty plea, Smith accepted responsibility for possession with the intent to distribute more than 112 grams but less than 196 grams of a mixture and substance containing cocaine base.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Chief Lanier commended the work of those who investigated the case from Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Jeannette Litz and Teesha Tobias, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory V. Cole, who investigated and prosecuted the case.