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Press Release

Multi-Convicted Felon Sentenced To More Than Two Decades in Federal Prison for Trafficking Drugs and Possessing Firearms

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Georgia

SAVANNAH, GA: Darius Andre “Arnie” Holmes, 41, of Savannah, Georgia, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge William T. Moore, Jr. to serve 262 months in federal prison for trafficking heroin and unlawfully possessing firearms.  After Holmes completes his nearly 22-year prison term, he will be supervised by the United States Probation Office for an additional five years.  Parole has been abolished in the federal system.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Holmes sold heroin to a confidential police informant on multiple occasions in August 2015.  After one such sale, Holmes told the informant he wanted to buy firearms.  Agents of the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) and the ATF then organized a sting operation during which Holmes exchanged drugs with an undercover officer for semiautomatic weapons.  With assistance from the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department SWAT team, Holmes was arrested immediately following the trade.

At sentencing, the Court noted that, Holmes had been convicted of more than 35 felony offenses over the course of nearly 25 years.  Many of Holmes’ crimes involved drugs, guns, and violence, and all of them were perpetrated in the Savannah area.

U.S. Attorney Edward Tarver said, “This defendant’s more than two-decade prison sentence is an appropriate response to the offenses he committed and his history of crime in the Savannah community.  The Department of Justice will continue to apprehend and prosecute criminals who terrorize our communities with violence, guns and drugs.  There should be no doubt that if you’re a felon with a gun or even one bullet; or if you’re pushing poison in our streets, you’ll soon be headed to a federal prison, far, far away and for a very long time.” 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted Holmes as part of Project Ceasefire, a joint federal, state and local initiative to combat gun violence and ensure that repeat offenders are subjected to stiff federal prison sentences.

Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph D. Newman and Theodore S. Hertzberg prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.  The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office also provided support to the ATF/CNT/SCMPD investigation.  For additional information, please contact First Assistant United States Attorney James D. Durham at (912) 201-2547.

 

Updated June 10, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking