Drug Trafficking Co-Conspirator Sentenced after Engaging in Shootout

NORFOLK, Va. – A Portsmouth man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for discharging a firearm in relation to a drug-trafficking crime.

According to court documents, Keith Earl Redman, 25, was a member of a Portsmouth-based cocaine and crack-trafficking conspiracy led by Charles Boomer, 44, of Portsmouth. This conspiracy was responsible for distributing wholesale amounts of cocaine and crack throughout Hampton Roads. Redman was the armed security for Boomer’s drug premises. Boomer was recently sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for his role in the conspiracy.

In September 2018, Redman engaged in a shootout with at least two masked gunmen trying to rob one of those drug premises. The residence was located across the street from a Portsmouth elementary school. Redman shot both gunmen in the legs and thwarted the robbery while sustaining minor injuries. Police officers arrived at the scene and stopped Boomer, Redman, and another co-conspirator as they were trying to flee in Redman’s girlfriend’s car.

During the police encounter, the officers saw that the co-conspirators were sitting on multiple bags of cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana, thousands of dollars in cash, and the handgun Redman had used to shoot at the masked gunmen. The officers recovered even more drugs and drug-manufacturing materials, as well as dozens of spent shell casings, from inside and in front of the residence.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Promotional Deceit. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Scott C. Burke, Acting Chief of Portsmouth Police; and Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Jackson prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:20-cr-30.